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FHOTO. BY C. S. JUDD, 



SHELBYVILLE, TENN. 



i? »» 






SCHOLASTIC LITERATURE. 



£ 



COMPILED BY 



C. R. DARNALL, 

PRESIDENT OF LEWISBURG- INSTITUTE, TENNESSEE. 




/ 



Kas&btHe, Cenn.: 
SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

1870. 



-pe> t4r 1 



3 



5 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

C. R. DARNALL, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



STEREOTYPED AT THE SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. 



PREFACE. 



The compiler of this work does not pretend to 
offer it to the world without its faults; for no 
doubt it, like all other productions, will exhibit 
its imperfections. This work is presented with 
the hope that it will contribute to the cause of 
education. It has not been prepared for any par- 
ticular class of readers. The speeches, compo- 
sitions, and "literary addresses" in it will be 
adapted to the various capacities of the commu- 
nity; and the child-like simplicity exhibited in 
many of the juvenile productions is carefully pre- 
served, hoping thereby to interest the rising gen- 
eration. This work embodies the sentiments of 
so many authors on such a variety of subjects, 
that it is believed by the friends of the enterprise 
that the work will be read with great interest. 

(3) 



4 • Preface. 

And the compiler does not pretend to state that 
all the pieces spoken and read on the several occa- 
sions are entirely original with the students, but 
most of them are; and credit is hereby given for 
some valuable selections from some of the best 
literary and educational works that could be ob- 
tained in the country. While it is admitted that 
some valuable selections have been made, yet the 
majority of the productions reflect the talent and 
ability of the school and its immediate home 
friends. 

This work is divided into four separate De- 
partments. The first includes the speeches, com- 
positions, and literary addresses of the scholastic 
year 1866-7. The second Department includes 
the speeches, compositions, and literary addresses 
of the scholastic year 1867-8; the third Depart- 
ment includes the speeches, compositions, and 
literary addresses of the scholastic year 1868-9; 
and the fourth Department will include and em- 
brace different subjects composed by various au- 
thors, and will be styled the " Miscellaneous " part 
of the book. Such a work as this has never been 
offered to the world, so far as the knowledge of 
the compiler extends ; and he has undertaken it, 



Preface. 5 

subjecting himself to the criticisms of a scrutin- 
izing world, with the reflection that if the work 
will stimulate the youths of the country to the 
discharge of the heavy responsibilities that rest 
upon them, he will never regret the great labor 
and heavy expense of publishing the work to the 
world. 

The compiler would respectfully ask the active 
cooperation of his co-workers in the great cause 
of universal education to assist him in the circu- 
lation of the work. He would here remark that 
he has devoted his almost entire life to the educa- 
tion of the youths of the country, and eternity 
will only develop the good that may thus have 
been done; and hundreds of poor orphan children 
have received his instruction without one single 
cent of remuneration, for not one single orphan or 
poor child was ever refused entrance into the dif- 
ferent institutions over which he presided. He, 
having been raised an orphan himself, knows some 
of the trials and temptations that surround their 
pathway through life. The compiler asks the 
gentle forbearance of his readers in saying as 
much as he has in this Pre"- p.d he hopes they 
will not regard it as egotism on his part. 



6 Preface. 

This work will be stereotyped, and future edi- 
tions may be issued, if the demand for the work 

requires it. 

C. E. DAKNALL. 

Lewisburg, Tenn., June 15, 1870. 



§i0pgjjial Skity 



OF 



C. R. DAENALL. 



Whenever an editor or compiler offers any 
literary production to the reading public, there 
are several inquiries that usually arise in the 
minds of the inquisitive. To meet all such inter- 
rogatories as may he made in regard to the com- 
piler of the present work, he will just here ask 
his readers to indulge him in offering a brief bio- 
graphical sketch of his origin, youth, education, 
and occupation in the world. 

His father, Cornelius Darnall, was raised in 
Kentucky, rather in a north-easterly direction 
from Lexington, and in an early day came to 
Tennessee, and settled in Lincoln county, in the 
vicinity of the village now called Mulberry. 
Some of his neighbors and acquaintances were 
among the Parks, Whitakers, Robinsons, and 

(7) 



8 Biographical Sketch of C. R. Darnall. 

Brights. He lived a bachelor for many years, 
but finally, at the age of about fifty, he married 
a lady by the name of Lucy Robinson, about 
eighteen or twenty years of age — a great dis- 
parity in age. There were three children born, 
but only two raised to mature years — the subject 
of this sketch, and a sister. Cornelius Darnall 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and drew 
a pension before his death, which occurred on the 
28th of June, 1835, leaving the subject of this 
sketch only about thirteen years old, his mother 
having died when he was five years old. 

Calvin Robinson Darnall was born in Lincoln 
county, Tennessee, on the 15th of June, 1822. 
His early training was very strict, during the 
lifetime of his father; yet the facilities for educa- 
tion were very indifferent — no good schools then, 
only in the cities and large towns. Hence the 
opportunities surrounding him were not of such a 
character as to give him a thorough education in 
his early boyhood. He lived with an uncle of 
his by the name of John Broadaway, after his 
father s death, who stimulated him to attempt a 
thorough collegiate course, and then practice law; 
but while efforts were being made for these pur- 



Biographical SJcetch of 0. R. Damall. 9 

poses, this uncle died, leaving his widow without 
protection, and this circumstance changed the 
whole programme; and after having attended the 
Fayetteville Academy for a time, then (that is, in 
1841) under the supervision of Rev. J. H. Eaton, 
afterward the beloved and respected President 
of the Murfreesboro University, he abandoned 
the idea of taking a thorough course in college, 
or practicing law, and in 1842 was married to 
Sarah W. Tally, of Marshall county, Tenn., and 
shortly afterward moved into the county of Mar- 
shall, and has lived in it ever since. 

In the year 1853, C. R. Darnall conceived the 
idea of building up a school in his vicinity, and 
taking a scientific course of instruction himself, 
though at the time about thirty-two years old, 
and having three children large enough to attend 
school; and after conceiving the plan, the next 
thing was to attempt its execution. Having had 
some acquaintance with Prof. C. L. Randolph, 
who at that time was teaching school in the vil- 
lage of Richmond, Bedford county, Tenn., but 
afterward graduated at Bethany College, Vir- 
ginia, he made an offer to him to locate in the 
vicinity of said C. R. Darnall, and take charge of 
1* 



10 Biographical Sketch of C. R. Darnall. 

New Hope Academy, built up entirely by him- 
self, with the special design of taking a thorough 
classical course under said C. L. Randolph; and 
within the space of three years the subject of 
this sketch made his way, with the boys of his 
vicinity, up the hill of science ; and he would just 
mention the name of his principal classmate dur- 
ing his academic course — Mr. James M. Brown, 
now of West Tennessee, though heretofore Pro- 
fessor in Petersburg Masonic Academy. In 1856, 
Prof. Randolph removed from New Hope Acad- 
emy to another position; for so w T as the agree- 
ment with him and the proprietor, C. R. Darnall, 
that so soon as he was sufficiently advanced to 
take charge of the school, Prof. C. L. Randolph 
was to locate elsewhere. 

Thus matters went on smoothly and success- 
fully in the Academy till 1861, w r hen the unfor- 
tunate war came up, and the schools throughout 
the whole country were broken up, and the most 
of the young men went to the war. During the 
period from 1853 to 1861, there were students, 
both male and female, at New Hope Academy, 
from various places throughout the country, and 
the establishment of this institution at New Hope 



Biographical Sketch of C. R. Darnall. 11 

really awakened general interest, and in many 
other ]ocalities good, substantial, and commodious 
academies were built up, until it became prover- 
bial that Marshall county had more good acad- 
emies and schools within its boundary than any 
adjoining county. But alas! the war made a 
considerable change in educational enterprises ; 
for after the war, many people were not prepared 
to take boarders, and thus stimulate educators; 
so it turned out that the subject of this biographi- 
cal sketch determined to change the base of his 
educational efforts, and the commodious Female 
Institute at Lewisburg was offered for sale, and 
on such terms as he thought he could purchase, 
and make it a success; so in the year 1866 he 
purchased the building of the Masons, and began 
his labors, assisted, from time to time, by compe- 
tent assistants, and the success of the Institute 
may be ascertained by an examination of its 
annual catalogues. In 1866-7, the number of 
scholars was 152; in 1867-8, 172; in 1868-9, 
172; and the year 1869-70 will reach about 200. 
The subject of this biographical sketch hopes 
that no one will regard it as bigotry to place this 
short memoir of his life before the public, and he 



12 Biographical Sketch of C. R. DarnalL 

hopes that the book he offers to the public will 
be received and read, and that it will have a ten- 
dency to stimulate the rising generation to strive 
to obtain knowledge. The subject of this sketch 
hopes that his co-workers in the cause of educa- 
tion will examine the work, and, if they think it 
worthy, assist him in its circulation. Having de- 
voted his best labors and most earnest attention 
to the business of teaching the young, the com- 
piler thinks it will be of practical interest to them 
to read this work. He would also here remark, 
that his management of schools has given general 
satisfaction. His government in school is mild 
and persuasive, and yet positive, in the execution 
of his aims and designs in scholastic discipline; 
and as evidence of his acceptability as an in- 
structor of youth, wherever he locates he has a 
prosperous school, and sends out both young ladies 
and gentlemen well qualified to discharge the 
various duties devolving upon them in the differ- 
ent avocations of private and public life. He has 
given the opportunity to numbers of poor girls 
and boys to go to school to him, and, after being 
competent, teach, and obtain means and pay. 
Never has one single poor child, either the orphan 



Biographical Sketch of C. R. Damatt. 13 

or any other, been refused the chance to get learn- 
ing. The only question he wants solved is, Is 
the applicant honest? If so, entrance into school 
is allowed; and eternity alone will develop the 
good that may thus have been done in this way. 
The compiler himself, as remarked in the Preface, 
was left early in life an orphan, and he knows by 
actual experience some of the besetments that 
obstruct the way; he knows also that all pre- 
tended advisers are not friends to the orphan. 
He knows that the charity of the masses is very 
limited toward the friendless poor. Hence a 
helping hand has always been extended; and 
although he has not been fully remunerated in 
this world for these labors bestowed, yet eternity 
will fully settle the residue ; and although instruc- 
tion in many instances has been given without 
the most distant hope of reward, yet the reflec- 
tion of having instructed the needy, of having 
opened to them the well-spring of science, gives 
inward satisfaction of having done his duty in 
the premises. C. R. D. 

June 15, 1870. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface > 3 

Biographical Sketch of C. R. Darn all 7 



I. DEPARTMENT OF 1866-7. 

Deity 21 

Changes in Human Life 28 

The Siren Voice of Pleasure 33 

The Misery of Idleness 38 

"I Will." 41 

Appearances Deceive 44 

Personal Beauty, Wealth, and Talent 48 

"Man was Made to Mourn." 51 

Educating the Mind 56 

The Weaker Sex 64 

"When Shall We all Meet Again?" 68 

The Order of Chivalry 72 

Onward and Upward 79 

Mutation 85 

"Be a Hero in the Strife." 91 

Passing Away 99 

Pride 102 

Onward is the Language of all Creation 107 

Valedictory 112 

Farewell 117 

Literary Address 121 

Literary Address 157 

(15) 



16 Contents. 

II. DEPARTMENT OF 1867-8. 



PAGE 



Know Thyself. 181 

What People go to Church for 187 

All is not Gold that Glitters 191 

Fashionable Follies 194 

We are Passing Away 198 

A Dream 204 

Human Life a Warfare 208 

Ancient and Modern Kepublics 216 

Woman and Her Mission 221 

Puins 227 

The Sword 231 

The Works of Nature 235 

Beauty Without Paint 241 

The Destiny of the American People 244 

Dignity of the Human Mind 247 

Books 251 

Work On 255 

To-day ' 259 

Mother, Home, and Heaven 263 

How Powerful is Sympathy 269 

Tempus Perditum 273 

Time Destroyed 275 

Valedictory 278 

Valedictory • 281 

Literary Address 289 

Literary Address 301 



III. DEPARTMENT OF 1868-9. 

The Influence of Poetry 321 

The Useful and Beautiful 327 

Washington's and Clay's Tombs 331 

Women of the Present Day 335 

Home 339 

The Honored Dead 343 

All Earthly Things are Transient 348 

The Voice of the Past 352 

Silent Cities 357 



Contents. 17 

PAGE 

The Self-conceited Student 361 

"Life is What We Make It." 367 

Confederate Dead 371 

Female Reputation 376 

Mobocracy 380 

Science 386 

Words, Though Sweet, Deceptive 391 

The Indian's Wrongs • 395 

God and Nature 400 

Autobiography of a Flirt 404 

Commerce 408 

Skepticism 416 

The Ideal and The Real 423 

Human Development 427 

All That's Bright Must Fade 431 

" Remember Me." 434 

Card-playing 438 

Old Miss Fashion 443 

What We Have Not Learned 446 

Truth 450 

Words 453 

Love 461 

The Affections 465 

Man 's a Pendulum Betwixt a Smile and a Tear 469 

Women of the South 475 

Disappointment 479 

Self-reliance 482 

Matrimony . . 486 

No More 491 

Valedictory 496 

Past and Present 500 

Literary Address 510 



IV. MISCELLANY. 

The Changes of Time 521 

Temperance 527 

Pride 531 

Virtue 533 

True Greatness 536 



18 Contents. 



PAOE 



The Avenger 540 

The Demands of the Present Age 544 

Patrick Henry 548 

Woman 553 

Happiness 556 

Reputation 559 

Kindness 562 

Not Afraid to Die 565 

Hope, an Encouragement 567 

Abridgment of Labor 570 

Capital Punishment 574 

The Twilight of the Heart 576 

The Grave-yard 579 

Astronomy 581 

Trials of the Student 590 

Parting Advice 593 

Home has a Charm 598 

We are Travelers, and Gleaning by the Wayside 602 

Electricity and Magnetism 608 

Aim High.. 613 

"The Lamp of Virtue is the Torch of Glory." 619 

Anniversary Address 630 



I. DEPARTMENT OF 1866-7. 



SCHOLASTIC LITERATURE. 



DEITY. 

BY A. D. McCLURE. 



Man is disposed to worship, and he may wor- 
ship the true God, or he may pay his adoration to 
false images, and pour out his oblations on altars 
and shrines that will be of no spiritual benefit to 
him. Whatever man esteems the most, whether 
the object be in heaven or on earth, that is his 
god. But our subject refers only to that one un- 
created cause of all things. This world presents 
to us causes and effects, and we reason from one 
to the other, and it has long since passed into a 
philosophic proverb that "no effect can be greater 
than its cause." Hence we read, "In initium Deus 
coelum et terrain creavit," and by the power of 
his word gave to a rude, chaotic mass the admira- 
ble beauty and variety which now everywhere 
salute the eye. Man was formed, the last and best 
of his works, in the image of his Maker, upright 
and happy, with powers of understanding and 

(21) 



22 Scholastic Literature. 

will. With his companion Eve, miraculously 
formed out of his own substance, he dwelt in the 
garden of Eden, where, yielding to the suggestion 
of the tempter, he transgressed the divine com- 
mand, and incurred all the penalties due the viola- 
tion of a positive law. Sin, with its really mourn- 
ful train, entered into the world; and though the 
Messiah was graciously promised, our first parents, 
being driven from Paradise, were condemned to a 
life of toil and to the forfeiture of immortality. 

But let us travel a little farther, and what do 
we see? The death of Adam, the translation of 
Enoch, the feebleness of the other patriarchs, and 
the luxuriant abundance of the earth filled man's 
heart with presumption and guilt. Impiety made 
rapid progress, and, like a contagious pestilence, 
infected the mass of society. In the midst of the 
general depravity, one man "found grace in the 
sight of the Lord." In the year of the world 
1656, the whole of the human race was destroyed 
by a deluge, the only survivors being Noah and 
his family, in all eight persons, who were preserved 
in an ark, made in obedience to the divine com- 
mand. Say you that these are no proofs of the 
existence of a God? In a word, all nature pro- 
claims his existence ; the herbs of the valley, the 
cedars of the mountain bless him; the insect 
sports in his beams, the birds sing him in the foli- 
age, the thunder proclaims him in the heaven, the 



Deity. 23 

ocean declares his immensity. Man, poor, defiled, 
and ruined by the fall, alone has said in his 
heart there is no God. Unite in one instant the 
mighty ocean, the snow-clad mountains, with all 
the most beautiful objects of nature. Suppose 
that at one instant you see all the hours of the 
day and all the seasons of the year; a morning of 
spring and a morning of autumn; a night be- 
spangled with stars and a night darkened with 
clouds; meadows enameled with flowers, forests 
hoary with snow, and fields gilded with the tints 
of autumn; then alone will you have a just con- 
ception of the universe. While you are gazing 
on that sun which is plunging into the vaults of 
the west, another observer admires him emerging 
from the gilded gates of the east. By what in- 
conceivable power does that aged star, which is 
sinking, fatigued and burning, in the shades of the 
evening, reappear at the same instant, fresh and 
humid, with the rosy dew of the morning ? At 
every hour of the day the glorious orb is once 
rising, resplendent as noonday, and setting in the 
west; or rather, our senses deceive us, and there 
is properly no north or south, nor east or west, in 
the world. Man himself is a proof of God's ex- 
istence. Let us place him before us, in his proper 
light and full stature. We are at once impressed 
with the beautiful organization of his body; with 
the orderly and harmonious arrangement of his 



24 Scholastic Literature. 

members. Such is the disposition of these, that 
their motion is the most easy, graceful, and useful 
that can be imagined. We are astonished to see 
the same simple matter diversified into so many 
substances of different qualities, sizes, and figures. 
If we pursue our researches through the internal 
system, we shall find that all the opposite, different 
parts correspond to each other with the utmost 
exactness and order; that they all answer the 
most beneficient purposes. This wonderful ma- 
chine — the human body — is animated, cherished, 
and nourished by a spirit within, which pervades 
every particle, feels in every organ, warns us of 
injury, and administers to our pleasures. Erect 
in stature, man differs from all other animals; 
though his foot is confined to the earth, yet his 
eye measures the whole circuit of the heavens, 
and in an instant takes in thousands of worlds. 
His countenance is turned upward, to teach us that 
he is not, like other animals, limited to the earth, 
but looks forward to brighter scenes of existence 
beyond the skies. Whence came this erect, orderty, 
and beautiful constitution of the human body? 
Did it spring up from the earth self-formed? 
Surely not. Earth itself is inactive matter ; that 
which has no action cannot produce any. Man 
surely could not, as has been vainly and idly sup- 
posed, have been formed by the fortuitous concur- 
rence of atoms. We behold the most exact order 



Deity. 25 

in the constitution of the human body. Order 
always involves design; design always involves 
intelligence. That intelligence which directed the 
orderly formation of the human body must have 
resided in a being whose power was adequate to 
such an effect. Guided by reason, man has trav- 
eled through the abstruse regions of the philoso- 
phic world. He has originated rules, by which 
he can direct the ships across the pathless ocean, 
and measure the comet's flight over the fields of 
unlimited space; he has established society and 
government; he- can aggregate the profusions of 
every climate and season; he can meliorate the 
severity and remedy the imperfections of nature 
itself. All these he can perform by the assistance 
of reason. By imagination man seems to verge 
to creative power. By this he can perform all the 
wonders of sculpture and painting; he can almost 
make the marble speak; he can almost make the 
brook murmur down the painted landscape. Often 
on the pinions of imagination man soars aloft 
where the eye has never yet traveled, where other 
stars glitter on the mantle of night, and a more 
effulgent sun lights up the blushes of morning, 
flying from world to world ; he gazes on all the 
glories of creation, or darts the eye of fancy across 
the mighty void, lighting on the distant margin of 
the universe, where creative power has never yet 
energized, where existence still creeps in the wide 
2 



26 Scholastic Literature. 

abyss of possibility. Surrounding creation ob- 
serves the wants and proclaims the dignity of man. 
For him, day and night visit the world; for him, 
the seasons walk their splendid rounds; for him, 
the earth teems with riches, and all things speak 
of glad fruition. All things, beautiful, grand, and 
sublime, appear in native loveliness, and proffer to 
man the richest blessings of fruition. Never be 
tempted to disbelieve the existence of God, when 
every thing around you proclaims it in a language 
too plain to be mistaken. Never cast your eyes 
on the created universe without having your souls 
filled with this sentence : " There is a God." When 
you survey this globe with all its appendages; 
when you behold it inhabited by numberless crea- 
tures, all moving in their proper spheres, all verg- 
ing to their proper ends, all animated by the same 
great source of life, all supported at the same great 
bounteous table; when you behold, not only the 
earth, but the ocean and air, swarming with living 
creatures, all happy in their spheres; when you 
behold yonder sun darting an effulgent blaze of 
glory over the heavens, garnishing mighty worlds 
and wakening ten thousand songs of praise; when 
you behold unnumbered systems diffused through 
vast immensity, clothed in splendor and rolling in 
majesty; when you behold these things, your 
affections should arise above all the vanities of 
time. Your soul, filled with ecstasy, and your 



Deity. 27 

reason, passions, and feelings, all united, should 
rush up to the skies with devout acknowledgment 
of the existence, power, wisdom, and goodness of 
God. 

" He spake, and it was done ; eternal night, 
At God's command, awakened into light. 
He called the elements — earth, ocean, air ; 
He called them when they were not, and they were ! 
He looked through space, and kindling o'er the sky, 
Sun, moon, and stars came forth to meet his eye. 
Man from the dust he formed to rule the whole ; 
He breathed, and man became a living soul ! 
With powers of thought the lord of Eden trod, 
Upright and pure, the image of his God. 

" The unwearied sun from day to day 
. Doth his Creator's power display, 

And publishes to every land 

The work of an Almighty hand ; 

" While all the stars that round him burn, 
And all the planets in their turn, 
Confirm the tidings as they roll, 
And spread the truth from pole to pole." 



28 Scholastic Literature. 



CHANGES IN HUMAN LIFE. 

BY H. F. EDWARDS. 

When man first comes into existence, he is 
altogether incapable of any self-sustaining power. 
He is the most feeble and helpless of all living 
beings. His limbs are so delicate, they must be 
caressed very tenderly ; his intellectual faculties 
are dormant ; therefore, while in this condition, he 
must acknowledge his inferiority to the lower or- 
ders of creation. The delicacy of his constitu- 
tion is such as not to be visited roughly by the 
varied changes of the atmosphere. This is the 
state in which man, the lord of beasts and the 
king of men, enters this world. He is like the 
soft, tender flower, that is so easily withered by 
the chilling blasts of winter, or by the sultry sun- 
beams of summer. If the unwearied assiduity 
of a mother were withheld from him, and he not 
permitted to that fountain from which he obtains 
his nourishment and warmth, his wailings would 
soon be hushed in death. But this stage of ex- 
istence soon passes away, and his physical powers 



Changes in Human Life. 29 

increase. Now his hands have the strength to 
grasp; now he is able to hold his head erect; 
now his curiosity begins to expand; his attention 
is arrested by every object that presents itself to 
his view. As the current of life rolls on, his 
physical organization becomes more and more 
adapted to the endurance of labor and suffering. 
His mental faculties wake from their slumber, 
and commence action. What a blessing it would 
be if man through his earliest days could only 
see the path that would direct him to usefulness 
and prosperity — yes, to eminence ! How many 
whose names might be green in the memory of 
the world, when their bodies have been long in 
the dust, go down to an untimely grave unwept 
and unsung! They look upon their youthful days 
as being allotted expressly for sportive joys and 
mirthful pleasures. The lad, as he trudges along 
his school-path, seeks for objects to amuse him- 
self. The chatterings of the forest songsters fur- 
nish his ear with harmonious sounds. Though 
his juvenile years quickly glide away, and all his 
boyish pleasures are abandoned, still strong mem- 
ory shall engrave these youthful scenes on his 
heart when he has grown old and weary. Before 
he has reached the years of puberty, his intel- 
lectual faculties are to some extent developed. 
He now commences inquiring about the nature 
and causes of the objects by which he is sur- 



30 Scholastic Liter attire. 

rounded. He cannot think of consuming his time 
in vain sport and playful glee, as in days past. It 
is impossible for him to look around and survey 
the wonderful architecture of Nature's works, as 
in his younger days, and not be struck with ad- 
miration and astonishment. When young, he 
could lie down on his couch and slumber in un- 
broken and sweet repose; but now his mind is 
active; it sees no opportunity to cease from re- 
flection and meditation, when it looks over the 
wide-extended earth and the starry worlds above. 
He has the beauty and grandeur of Nature every- 
where spread before him. He has access to the 
history of all nations, their inventions, and all 
the improvements in the sciences and arts. 
how man laments when he beholds what a bound- 
less field lies stretched out before him for vision, 
being conscious how very soon his locks will be 
silvered over and his face all corrugated! 

Notwithstanding the rapid changes in life from 
youth to manhood, from manhood to old age, hu- 
manity is so constituted that it demands employ- 
ment. It is only through the instrumentality of 
action that we ascend the ladder of fame. The 
trimming of the midnight lamp conducts us over 
many a round. The mind in the morning of life 
is active, but it scarcely takes any thought of 
those things which are valuable and noble that 
would be ennobling to the human character. Vi- 



Changes in Human Life. 31 

vacity and novelty are characteristic, while the 
blooming rose-color is flush on the cheek. Those 
objects are sought that create merriment on the 
brain, and free the heart from its desires. When 
those morning years — the springtide of human 
existence — have flown away never to return, the 
noontide of life begins. Then both body and 
mind enter a new sphere. A great change takes 
place. The body acquires its full growth; the 
muscles become firm and invigorated; the coun- 
tenance puts on an intelligent appearance; the 
traits of boyhood are disgusting ; the mind is no 
longer in quest of futile things, but is sober and 
reflective, relative to objects of importance. This 
is by far the most productive part of life. In 
this season the philosopher unravels his knotty 
questions and demonstrates the theory of nature; 
the astronomer surveys the heavenly bodies, and 
measures their relative distances and weighs their 
magnitude; the poet sings his sweetest strains, 
and paints Nature in her true colors; persuasive 
tones of eloquence burst from the lips of the 
orator; the warrior grasps his weapons with a 
strong hand, while the pulsations of life beat high 
in manhood's active might. But the noontide or 
meridian splendor of life fleets away, and the 
shades of evening approach. Then the body 
bends over; the rosy cheeks, that once seemed 
so lovely, are faded and all furrowed over; time 



32 Scholastic Literature. 

has whitened the black, glossy curl- the muscular 
powers are nearly exhausted; the mental facul- 
ties leave the field of reason and dwell on remi- 
niscences of earlier days; that once shrill and 
eloquent voice can scarcely be heard; that proud 
and ambitious spirit which once predominated has 
bid adieu to its habitation within. Night is fast 
drawing her sable curtain. The end is visible. 
The traveler sees it. A few more days to reflect, 
and moisten the eye with tears; then the soul 
will put on the robe of immortality. 



The Siren Voice of Pleasure, 33 



THE SIREN VOICE OF PLEASURE. 

BY D. W. C. HOUSTON. 

There has ever been a siren voice, the melody 
of whose music is continually drawing man within 
the influence of its power, but to hasten him to 
destruction. In the blushing bloom of youth, 
when the heart is all calm and placid as the gently- 
flowing rivulet, and as pure as the crystal waters, 
the voice of that siren is heard like the sweet 
cadence of far-off music that falls upon the listen- 
ing ear but to charm and bewilder. It lulls to 
rest the timid fears of his beating heart, and in- 
vites his excited imagination to the ambrosial 
fields of bliss, and to the shady groves of pleas- 
ure, where the waters of happiness sparkle in the 
light of an eternal sun ; where the sweet fragrance 
of perpetually - blooming flowers perfumes the 
gently-breathing zephyrs with the richest odors, 
and where the votaries of pleasure continually 
revel in the sunshine of happiness. Captivated by 
the sweet tones of the siren and enraptured by 
2* 



34 Scholastic Literature. 

the delusive fancies and apparent loveliness of her 
realm, with eager, trembling heart he draws near, 
and lightly tastes her limpid waters. To taste is 
but to taste again. Excited by the exhilarated 
pleasures of the draught, and overcome by the 
novelty of his position, he lingers long upon the 
banks and drinks deep of its waters, until, when 
filled with the wild raptures of the moment, he 
penetrates farther within those delightful bowers, 
and suddenly the wide-extended fields of pleasure 
burst upon his enraptured view. His votaries 
flock around him in crowds, with their faces radi- 
ant with the smiles of happiness, their brows gar- 
landed with swelling; he joins the throng, and for 
a while mingles in the wild reveries of pleasure; 
but after awhile he approaches the opposite bound- 
ary of the plain, beyond which he beholds, stretched 
out before him, the realms of dark despair. Trem- 
bling, pale, in vain does he attempt to turn back 
and to shut out from view the horrid scene before 
him. His reason turns upon her throne — his will 
is gone; the chain that has strangely bound him 
has destroyed his energy, and, a prey of the 
basest passion, he is borne along upon the tide of 
destruction. In vain do the groans of the dying 
fall upon his ear, and the wail of the miserable 
echo through the chamber of the soul. Stung by 
the lash of enraged conscience and the soul-with- 
ering sins of the past, he rushes madly on until 



The Siren Voice of Pleasure. 35 

he stands upon the brink of death's dark and re- 
lentless tide. He hesitates for a moment, casts 
one last lingering look back upon the happy scenes 
now past forever, and then with one howl of agony 
he leaps into the surging floods beneath. And is 
this the destination of the joyful anticipations of 
the youth of pleasure? Alas! the experience of 
the past too plainly tells it is. 

The gentle maiden, too, has listened to the song 
of the siren, until she who was as pure as the 
morning sunlight, and as delicate as the lily of 
the valley, is transformed into a fiendish demon, 
and the soul, unruffled by a single disturbing care, 
has ever learned to revel and to join its horrid 
imprecations with those of the most depraved of 
humanity. The delicate flowers which the gentle 
zephyrs fanned have been hardened by the blight- 
ing curse of sin, until their firmness is unshaken 
even by the hurricane's breath. 

The noblest work of God, the finishing touch 
of divine architecture, is adorned for the mansion 
of despair by the siren. The unyielding reason, 
and the proud heart of man, too, have been made 
to bow before the power of that voice. Insidiously 
has it crept upon him until, like the worm of the 
still, its dreadful bite has bound him so firmly 
within its chains that he seeks anew the loathsome 
reptile but to be bitten again. At thy shrine the 
young, the old, the aged, alike bow in the wildest 



36 Scholastic Literature. 

adoration. By this power the loftiest intellects 
have been dragged from the pure heights of reason, 
from the sublime fields of philosophy, to the low- 
est depths of degradation and the foulest haunts 
of shame. The purest innocence of earth has 
been converted into the blackest infamy, nations 
have been swept out of existence, and yet upon 
each succeeding wave of time thousands of thought- 
less victims are hurried to eternity. wonderful 
inconsistency! inhumanity! When will you 
learn reason and common sense? In vain do 
the light of reason and the experience of the past 
shed their lights around us. They may arrest our 
attention for a time, but anon that voice is heard 
and borne upon the breath of pleasure; nor is it 
easily resisted, for as some unseen power it comes 
upon us in a thousand insidious forms. Its in- 
fluence is wafted upon every breeze of the morn- 
ing under the guise of philosophy; it is shed 
abroad from a thousand presses, wrapt in the holy 
garb of Christianity; it is proclaimed from the 
desk; its seeds are sown around the family fire- 
side. In short, there is no spot, however pure 
and holy, but that its influence is felt. 

Then listen not to the siren voice of pleasure, 
but steel your hearts against the tender eloquence 
of her persuasion; listen not to the sweet melody 
of her music, nor meditate upon the fancied beau- 
ties of her realms. Her joys will fall like the 



The Siren Voice of Pleasure, 37 

mist in the morning sun; her pleasures, beautiful 
to the eye, like the apples of Sodom when touched, 
to ashes turn; but her pangs are as deep as per- 
dition and as lasting as eternity. 



38 Scholastic Literature. 



THE MISERY OF IDLENESS. 

BY MARY WILLIAMS. 

When Adam and Eve were driven from the 
garden of Eden, God said henceforth man should 
live by the sweat of his brow; hence, the being 
who lives idly, lives contrary to Nature's first law, 
and he must take, as his appropriate punishment, 
poverty, misery, and want. The farmer who 
would neglect the cultivation of his land because 
he has a long life before him, would soon find that 
food suitable to sustain him would not ^row in an 
uncleared forest. Nor will virtue grow in an in- 
active, uncultivated mind. If you sow the seed 
of idleness, you will reap misery and poverty. 
Many young persons seem to think it is of no con- 
sequence if they do not improve their time well 
when in youth, for they can make it up by dili- 
gence when they are older. They think it is dis- 
graceful for men and women to be idle, but that 
there can be no harm for persons who are young 
to spend their time in any manner they please. 
Alas! how often such idle, delusive thoughts as 



The Misery of Idleness. 39 

these lead the young into the path of misery, 
when the mind is fresh and susceptible, more ready 
to admit useful knowledge, the time when the im- 
portance of industry and the value of time should 
be impressed on their young hearts. Instead of 
that, they squander the precious moments of child- 
hood, and contract habits of idleness. If you do 
not improve your time when young, you can be 
neither useful, respected, nor happy. The conse- 
quence of this idleness will follow you through 
life. With all sin God has connected sorrow, and 
as it is sinful and ruinous to be idle, so indolence 
is intimately connected with misery and disgrace. 
The idle boy is almost invariably poor and miser- 
able, while the industrious boy is happy and pros- 
perous. We are placed in this world to improve 
our time. In youth we must be preparing for 
future usefulness. We have no time to compose 
ourselves to listlessness and inactivity, when we 
should be active in doing good. All the knowledge 
we acquire not only qualifies us for usefulness and 
enjoyment in this world, but increases our capaci- 
ties for enjoyment in the world to come. Then 
how important it is that we should learn the value 
of time and make a wise improvement thereof, 
since every idle moment diminishes our capacities 
for eternity, and sinks us lower in the grade of 
misery ! The child, as soon as it begins to walk, 
likes to be busy about something, however trifling, 



40 Scholastic Literature. 

and is ever ready to be usefully employed; and 
this natural inclination to industry, if not turned 
to good account, will be productive of evil, thus 
verifying the old adage : " Idleness is the parent 
of many vices." Our life is a vapor, which soon 
passeth away. It is then the part of wisdom to 
turn away from idleness, and improve the few 
fleeting moments as they pass by. \ 



"i wmr 4i 



"I WILL." 

BY VASTINE TILLMAN. 

"I will" is a determination or decree of the 
mind. It is powerful in its influence, and exten- 
sive in its operations. From the force and effect 
of this decree in the mind of the Eternal Father, 
all things become as they are. There is where 
it took its origin. He willed, and all animal crea- 
tion — from the lowest reptiles that crawl upon 
the earth, and the smallest insect that floats in 
the air, to the most profound philosopher that 
this world can boast of — had their being; nor 
was the force and effect of this decree confined 
exclusively to earth, but it was felt in the sun 
and satellites of heaven. He willed, and the 
burning sun rolled from his omnipotent hand to 
its present position, to light up this mundane 
sphere. He willed, and bright worlds rolled forth 
through the immensity of space, and took up 
their position, and continue to roll and revolve in 
harmonious action, and in accordance with the 
same decree. Hannibal, Caesar, and Napoleon 



42 Scholastic Literature. 

were triumphant soldiers. While it made Plato 
and Socrates learned philosophers, it also enabled 
Hannibal, too, with his Carthaginian army, to 
scale the frowning glaciers of the snow-clad Alps 
— a thing that no other soldiers had ever at- 
tempted. By this decree Franklin brought from 
Nature's realms the mysterious art of electricity, 
and applied it to a useful purpose in the business 
of man. Fulton, too, was enabled to apply steam 
to a useful purpose, and to start the first steam- 
boat that ever plowed the waves of any stream. 
It has ever made men, when fixed upon proper 
objects. It enabled Newton to prove to a demon- 
stration that it was a principle of gravitation that 
causes all bodies to tend toward the center of 
the earth. "I will" caused our forefathers to 
launch from the white-clifFed shores of Old Eng- 
land, the place of their childhood, to cross the 
trackless ocean to search for a shore in the wilds 
of North America, to brave the tomahawk of the 
merciless savage, and to quench the appetite of 
the wild beast of the forest. By this decree Con- 
fucius, the great Chinese philosopher, established 
the first school known in history; and our Puri- 
tan fathers were enabled to found and build the 
great institution of learning, afterward the Uni- 
versity of Hartford ; and others were established, 
and are now standing as proud monuments of 
their undying fame. And if we, my dear school- 



«i war 43 

mates, will follow the example taught us, we will 
need no architect to perpetuate our memory, no 
princely dome, no monumental, no stately pyra- 
mid, whose towering height shall pierce the stormy 
clouds, and soar its lofty head toward heaven, to 
tell posterity of our fame as a people. 



44 Scholastic Literature, 



APPEAKANCES DECEIVE. 

BY EMMA HOPWOOD. 

And this one maxim is a standing rule. Men 
are not what they seem to be. How common is 
it, in all the associations of men, public and pri- 
vate, to have an eager desire to extend and en- 
large their acquaintances as they advance in life 
and character, wealth and fame, seeking for the 
object of their acquaintance men whose external 
appearance and public deportment give them the 
appellation of gentlemen; whose dress, manners, 
gait, and style of conversation are at once com- 
mendable and inviting; without for a moment 
thinking of the being within, enveloped by out- 
ward attractions and fascinations, such as the 
latest fashions of apparel, the gravest imitators 
of dress; when, in the course of their acquaint- 
ance, we find, instead of a man upon whom we 
can bestow our admiration, one upon whom we 
can look and behold in perfection an image of 
purity, we are saddened and pained in finding 
ourselves admiring a knave — a man black at 



Appearances Deceive. 45 

heart, motives impure, and, indeed, a fashionable 
hypocrite, wearing the demeanor of a gentleman 
to serve the devil in! How much more easy for 
a man full of hypocrisy, deceit, and degradation 
to ingratiate himself upon an innocent and un- 
suspecting people, and gain their respect and es- 
teem, than one who is disposed to do that which 
is right, fair, and honest, unbosoming to the world 
his whole nature, his intentions, designs, and in- 
clinations, simply because we are led to hasty and 
rash conclusions from outward appearances! In 
truth, we trust too much to appearances. How 
often are we forced to writhe under just penalty 
of conscience, and equally suffering in pocket, 
the derision of scorn and reproach, loss of char- 
acter and friends, from having hastily taken into 
our confidence and esteem some new-comer, only 
because his dress was becoming, his manners at- 
tractive, and his behavior courteous ; when, to 
our mortification, we have only been giving life to 
the serpent, to receive, in exchange for our love 
and regard, its poisonous sting! 

As the world advances in age, and the re- 
sources for amusement and enjoyment increase, 
this evil will always have its numerous votaries 
and victims, ever and anon leading the careless 
and unthoughtful in the paths of vice and trouble, 
rejoicing over the sufferings of its victims. As 
each clay brings forth its fresh objects of pleasure, 



46 Scholastic Literature. 

so will their advocates be alike new and numer- 
ous; and the unsuspecting, not having learned 
lessons from their ancestors, will also suffer disap- 
pointments, resulting in their perfect discomfiture. 
Every one in the different avocations of life has 
his peculiar appearances; some from the peculiar 
profession they follow, some to gain the admira- 
tion of their associates, some the confidence of 
their patrons, some that they may be styled the 
elite, and others to cover a foul deed of wicked- 
ness — to prevent, if possible, their sins from find- 
ing them out ; so it appears that we cannot judge 
a man by the face or deportment he wears. But, 

" Within the oyster-shell uncouth 
The purest pearl may hide. 
Trust me — you '11 find a heart of truth 
Within this rough outside." 

Then if we do not wish the pain of too hasty 
conclusions, let us first find out the man — break 
the shell, though rough outside, and see what the 
interior discloses — before we receive him into our 
confidence and esteem. My beloved school-mates, 
this fact, "Trust not in appearances," might be 
forcibly applied to each one of us. We appear 
on this general examination - day before an au- 
dience respectable, and anxious concerning us : 
can we appear before them in such a way as that 
they will say of us truthfully that we have acted 



Apijearances Deceive. 47 

well our parts, and that we have been benefited 
and improved by our course of studies here ? 
Let our appearances be genuine, and let us by 
our profession to have studied hard tell upon us 
in future; by our constant diligence and untir- 
ing effort let us master what we attempt before 
quitting for something else. Let our appearance 
in future life be of such a character that no one 
will have occasion of reproach for cultivating our 
acquaintance and regard; and let us also learn 
lessons of wisdom in youth from the misfortunes 
of our seniors, not to come to rash and imma- 
ture conceptions concerning new-comers and new 
things until we have first found them out, and are 
perfectly satisfied as to their purity; and, 

"The deepest ice that ever froze 
Can only o'er the surface glow ; 
The living stream is quick below, 

And flows, and cannot cease to flow! " 



48 Scholastic Literature. 



PERSONAL BEAUTY, WEALTH, AND 
TALENT. 



BY MAGGIE T. WILLIAMS. 



These are three bright links in the human 
character that we scarcely ever see united — beauty, 
wealth, and talent. Each has its peculiar grace, 
its peculiar power, its peculiar loveliness; but out of 
these three favored gifts which God has bestowed 
so richly on man, wealth is far preferable, more 
essential in the estimation of some than the be- 
witching charms of beauty or the superior excel- 
lence of talent. The golden chain of wealth will 
give man a passport in society which no one thing 
else could give, no difference how uncouth in man- 
ners, how repulsive in appearance, how unculti- 
vated the mind of the man of wealth; his gold 
will cause his faults to be forgotten; his gold will 
cause him to be ushered into the best society; 
gold will purchase for him all the riches of earth. 
Wealth produces good, and has desirable influence 
as well as bad productions and evil effects. Wealth 
is the key that unlocks the coldest hearts, and 



Personal Beauty r , Wealth, and Talent. 49 

causes sweet words of kindness to be poured into 
the ears of the possessor. Wealth has its votaries, 
its thousands of worshipers kneeling at its feet. 
'T is wealth that sends ships o'er distant seas; 'tis 
wealth sends the smoking locomotive from the 
tempestuous Atlantic to the Western Pacific. 

Although wealth be desirable, be essential, it is 
not the only gift that has an effect on the human 
mind. Beauty weaves around the heart of man a 
bright and lasting charm. Who is it that can 
gaze upon the gracefully-molded form, the beau- 
tifully-chiseled face, the intelligent, soul-speaking 
eye; who is it that, while gazing on so lovely an 
object, could fail to have his admiration height- 
ened into love, even adoration? 

Next in the chain is talent. It is one of the 
greatest gifts which God has bestowed on man- 
kind. 'Tis talent that has written histories and 
thrilling biographies. Poetry, too, arose from her 
skillful hand, the sweetest and brightest produc- 
tions of her pen. Talent has her thousand useful 
discoveries. She first saw resemblance in plants, 
and divided them into classes, orders, and species. 
Talent discovered America; talent gave her free- 
dom; talent made her laws and supported them. 
She not only explained the beauties of earth, and fu- 
ture nations, and individuals as to their glory, but 
she ascended higher ; she caught the lightning in her 
grasp and chained it down forever; she discovered 
3 



50 Scholastic Literature. 

the laws of gravitation; she fashioned her a tele- 
scope, and, looking out on the starry heavens, saw 
new stars, and measured the remote distances of 
planets, weighed their matter, and explained their 
motions. 

Wealth was not idle; she published talented 
books; she went with Columbus in his discoveries; 
and she has formed numerous observations where 
the glorious artillery of science nightly spans the 
skies. Then we see wealth and talent working 
together. Talent shows wealth what to do and 
how to act; and wealth with enthusiasm performs 
the work. Which should be considered the great- 
est? Wealth? No; riches will fly away. Beauty? 
No; beauty will soon fade. Talent? Yes; tal- 
ent lives forever. 



"Man was Made to Mourn" 51 



"MAN WAS MADE TO MOURN." 

BY VV. W, HUNTER. 

"A few seem favorites of fate, 

In pleasure's lap caressed, 
Yet think not all the rich and great 

Are likewise truly blessed. 
But O what crowds in every land, 

All wretched and forlorn, 
Through weary life this lesson learn, 

That man was made to mourn !" 

Thus the Scottish bard, one of nature's most 
gifted sons, sung and made classic this melancholy 
thought, by stooping to touch it with his inspiring 
genius, and' strewing the flowers of poesy amid 
the shadows of its gloomy home. But in his wild, 
artless notes, he never sung a more solemn truth, 
the shadows of which fall upon the life of every 
human creature. Each day of our lives warns us 
of fresh testimonials from which we learn new 
lessons of grief. 'T was a fate to the transgressors 
whom God drove out of the garden of Eden, 
that man should eat bread all his days by the 
sweat of his brow; and so it will continue to sound 
from generation to generation, and from posterity 



52 Scholastic Literature. 

to posterity, through all ages, that melancholy 
dirge of the hopes of the human heart. No hu- 
man being ever did that which was not a living 
monument of the truth of this solemn thought. 
Well has the poet said : 

" man ! while in thy early years, 

How prodigal of time, 
Misspending all thy precious hours, 

Thy glorious youthful prime. 
Alternate follies take the sway, 

Licentious passions burn, 
Which tenfold force gives nature's law, 

That man was made to mourn." 

Yea, turn with your minds, plumed with swift- 
winged imagination, and travel with the electricity 
of speedy thought o'er centuries lost in the deep, 
deep past, and there view Alexander, who could 
boast of being monarch of the civilized world, 
when his cup of ambition was full to overflowing; 
see him set a city on fire and die in debauchery 
amid its ruins. Who was it that, to the astonish- 
ment of the civilized world, scaled the frowning 
Alps — a thing that no other soldier had ever done — 
and put to flight the armies of the Queen of Rome, 
the mistress of the world, and after draining am- 
bition's cup, was banished from his own native 
land, and died from poison, administered by his 
own hand? It was Hannibal, the great Cartha- 
ginian chieftain. At a later period of the history 



"Man ivas Made to Mourn" 53 

of the world, we see Napoleon, one day the man 
of a thousand thrones, to whom monarchs bowed 
the trembling knee and begged but to live; the 
next we see him disrobed of all his pomp and 
power, and sunk to the most abject and contempti- 
ble state of misery and woe, confined in disgrace 
to a sullen isle, where the mountainous waves of 
the sea leaped and laughed in their freedom, and 
mocked him with their smiles at his woes. Look 
at Csesar, the fourth of the mighty and misguided 
sons of earth, who grasped with his own strong 
arm the mighty scepter of the Roman Empire, and 
having carried the terror of the Roman army into 
every land, and caused his victorious eagles to 
dance in the rising and setting sun of every clime 
of the earth, died at last a miserable death upon 
the floor of that very senate-chamber where he had 
sacrificed his all to rule. 

Nations are no less the subjects of this sad law 
than individuals. History, that faithful chronicler 
of human events, presents us with some lamenta- 
ble instances of nations w T eeping over their deso- 
lation. The Jews, that once Heaven-favored 
people, who enjoyed the high prerogative alone of 
being called God's own peculiar people, have been 
made to bow in sackcloth and ashes, and hang 
their harps upon the willows, and weep in their 
sadness and anguish for their national desolation; 
and they are to-day the most ill-fated and unhappy 



54 Scholastic Literature. 

people upon the face of the earth. But it is need- 
less for me to refer to ancient history for examples 
of the blighting influence of this inexorable law, 
when every thing around us contains elements of 
misery and woe. Death and disease lurk in every 
flower, and not a cheek that burns with beauteous 
blushes before me to-day but is a blossom on the 
tomb of all earthly hopes. Turn, while it is still 
in the deep shades of misery, and look at our own 
beloved country. what a spectacle meets the 
sight! Six years ago the flood-gates of human 
sorrow were lifted up, and its angry waters ran 
over our once happy land like the simooms of 
Africa, leaving desolation in their track. Unhappy 
South! thy people, once proud, inflexible, stern, 
and devoted, who looked forward, with hearts full 
of pride and hope, for national honor, are now 
without hopes, upon the wasteless, shoreless, tide- 
less, and fathomless sea of troubles ! Alas, how 
sad thy fate, beaten in battle ! "Where is all that 
was near and dear to thee? It is desecrated by 
the terrible armies that overflowed thy sacred 
country. Black and ashy spots mark where thy 
proud cities stood. Thy marshaled hosts have 
been rendered unavailing by the devastating hand 
of the enemy. Thy glory and honor have all 
been swept away like " the aerolite that flits away 
ere you can point to its place ; like the snow-flake 
that falls into the river, a moment white, then 



"Man was Made to Mourn" 55 

melts forever." All that was sacred and desirable 
in national life has been sacrificed to the avenging 
nemesis — nothing left but thy universal poverty. 
Weeping and widowed mothers tread thy soil from 
boundary to boundary; bereaved sisters proclaim 
to the world an everlasting desolation, followed by 
the greatest miseries of man, originating from the 
ruthless deeds of man. Long after the visible 
marks of thy wrongs shall have been washed out 
by the dews of heaven, will thy debased oppres- 
sion prove, with a hundred-fold force, that " mans 
inhumanity to man makes countless thousands 
mourn." 

I presume there is no one under the sound of 
my voice that doubts the veracity of my subject. 
If so, let him appeal to the hoary-headed father, 
the subject of the bard's song, who was weary, 
worn with care, and whose staff was bearing his 
tottering footsteps silently on toward the grave, 
and hear him express, in feeble accents, but ac- 
cents that will never be forgotten : 

"I've seen the sun that overhangs yon moor, 
Outspreading far and wide, 
Where hundreds labor to support 
A haughty lordland pride. 

"I've seen yon weary winter's sun 
Twice forty times return, 
And every time has added proof 
That man was made to mourn." 



56 Scholastic Literature. 



EDUCATING THE MIND. 

BY J. A. YARBROUGH. 

The mind is the invisible part of man. The 
natural eye cannot see it, ear cannot hear it, 
tongue cannot taste it, nor hand cannot touch it; 
yet we know it is an inhabitant of the body. 
Like the wind, we know it blows; but "whence 
it cometh, or whither it goeth," we know not. 
The body (that is, the physical man) is the ves- 
sel, and the mind the inhabitant, that directs and 
guides it through the stormy tides of life. We 
see the motions of every limb of the body in all 
the various avocations of life, and are led to pause 
and think where the pilot resides that gives mo- 
tion and life to all these various forms of action. 
Hence, after reasoning and philosophizing, we 
must come to the conclusion that there is a great 
moving cause, whence proceed all the motions of 
the animal man, which must be the principle that 
makes man superior to all other animal creation. 
We behold the massive ship moving regularly 
upon the broad bosom of the ocean; we see the 



Educating the Mind. 57 

direction it goes; hence we come to the conclu- 
sion that there is a pilot watching over its des- 
tiny, and guiding it to a port of safety; so, by 
the motion of the vessel, we have an index to the 
mind of its pilot. By the same course of reason- 
ing, the external manifestations of visible man 
are a living index to the movements of the invis- 
ible ; every physical motion must be preceded by 
a facsimile movement of the mind. It is said, if 
a man in almost a starving condition were placed 
between two loaves of bread, at equal distances 
from each, he could not move toward either till 
he had first called his mind into action, and de- 
termined to which one he would go. Then how 
important for the world that the mind be gifted 
with skill, with knowledge, and information, that 
the vessel may be kept off of breakers, guided 
safely througli life, and not become a floating 
wreck, with a drowned crew, at the mercy of the 
winds ! 

The mind of the little babe, like the tender 
twig germinating from the seed, is easily inclined 
so that the tree will grow crooked. what care 
and attention should be given to it, while caressed 
in its infant cradle, that the tree may grow strong, 
and spread its green foliage over vast plains; 
that disease may not be located in its body, and 
eat away its vitals, till its tottering frame may 
bud before the mildest winds! It is in youth 



58 Scholastic Literature. 

that the vessel is directed to its grand port of 
destination, and that the mind receives that vigor 
and strength that enables it to grasp great ideas, 
survey worlds, and climb to the summit of the 
hill of science. While in its earliest stage of 
youth, like the distant cloud in the far west, rais- 
ing its head above the horizon, does not appar- 
ently seem to cover a larger space than the palm 
of the hand, but gradually it advances, expanding 
wider and growing heavier, till the whole hemi- 
sphere becomes covered with the immensity of 
its size, so in youth the mind is confined within 
the narrow walls of the home-circle; but grad- 
ually it moves out upon the busy stage of life, 
grasping more and more, till it reaches the limit 
of the state under whose laws it receives protec- 
tion. 

Not being satisfied with this — for it has now 
but received a thirst to continue its progress — it 
moves out in search of wider fields, that it may 
have prey of richer productions, till it has scanned 
the walls of the mighty nation that furnishes 
nourishment for millions of souls. Onward it 
goes, guided by reason, across the bosom of the 
mighty oceans, in search of sciences wilder and 
more romantic, till it has traveled over the wa- 
ters, cities, hills, and valleys composing the en- 
tire globe. Alexander - like, it now pauses, and 
weeps that there is not more to do. Ah ! it now 



Educating the Mind. 59 

turns its course upward, linking thought together, 
rising higher and higher, till, with a bridge of 
thought, the mind has safely arrived in the hea- 
venly regions. Thus it surveys star after star, 
and planet after planet, till lost in the wilds of 
endless distance. Like the angels of heaven, it 
smoothly glides in sweet chariots of thought, feed- 
ing on heavenly ideas till filled with blissful ec- 
stasy. 

Then, let me admonish the youths of this 
Institute, who are daily bending over the scien- 
tific works of past ages, to prepare, while heaven 
showers her vigorous dews, to gather all these 
glorious treasures, sweeter — yes, far more delight- 
ful — than gathering the lilies of the valley, or the 
roses of Sharon. The tottering frame of our na- 
tional skeleton, as it reluctantly bends its frown- 
ing brow over the dark abyss of ruin, now invites 
the talents of the rising generation to dispel the 
angry clouds of ruin, that the brilliant skies of 
light may dawn over her national halls again — 
that the lonely and sickening shrieks of the dying 
and mangled may not longer grate upon the ears 
of that lovely Father, commingled with the sweet 
hosannas of lovely angels, but that earth and 
heaven may meet with that unison and accord of 
action and sound that filled the heavens from that 
noble choir that sang in praise of God on the 
morning of the world's contemplation. 



60 Scholastic Literature. 

In conclusion, permit me, my kind school-mates, 
to relate to you an anecdote that I once heard, 
showing how students w T ill sometimes act in order 
that they may make a great show without much 
study : 

" I once heard of a man who was in the habit 
of drinking too much liquor, and w T ho, when in 
liquor, would sometimes steal. On one occasion 
he came home pretty tipsy, and it occurred to his 
disordered brain that he had not stolen any thing 
for a long time. He pondered the matter over, 
and came to the conclusion that, unless he should 
steal something pretty soon, his ' hand would get 
out;' that is, he would lose his skill, and be de- 
tected the next time he ventured upon a theft. 
With these thoughts in his head, he lay down on 
his bed to rest for the night, but could not sleep 
for thinking; of the danger of detection, if he did 
not put his skill for stealing in practice; so he re- 
solved to get up and practice a little. He went 
out of the room, closed the door behind him, went 
to some distance from the house, then turned 
about, and approached it as a thief. He slipped 
cunningly and slyly along, opened the door softly, 
entered with great caution, stole up to the side of 
the bed, peeped timidly over to see that all were 
asleep, took his own clothes (of which he had but 
one suit) from the chair where he had placed 
them on going to bed, slipped quietly out of the 



Educating the Mind. 61 

house again, went to the stable, and concealed the 
clothes under the straw of the loft. He then 
went back to bed, chuckling at the success of his 
trick, and soon went to sleep. In his sleep, the 
excitement of the liquor wore off; the transaction 
of the night fled from his memory; and w T hen he 
awoke, drow T sy and dull, in the morning, he was 
surprised at not finding his clothes on the chair 
by the bedside. He called different members of 
the family, but no one could give him any ac- 
count of his clothes. In his anxiety and struggle 
to remember the transactions of the night, a vague 
recollection of what had happened came up, and 
he at length satisfied himself that he had stolen 
his own clothes, and concealed them; but all his 
efforts were vain to call up the place where he 
had concealed them. There he w T as, owning but 
one suit of clothes, which he had stolen from him- 
self and hidden, and, for his life, could not think 
where." 

Was he not in a bad fix? and was he not 
a great fool? But stop! do not condemn him; 
you may be condemning yourself. I do not mean 
that you are a drunkard or a rogue, but it is 
to be feared that you sometimes steal your own 
clothes. Let us see. Look at that school-boy 
in his class, there, with his Latin book before 
him: he is pretending to translate the author, 
while he is only reading off the meaning of the 



62 JSchoiastic Literature. 

words which he has written down in his book at 
the say-so of some one else. He thinks he is 
playing off a beautiful trick on his teacher. But 
he is stealing his own clothes. Watch that girl: 
she seems to be reciting finely, but do you notice 
she has one ear open to catch what the girl be- 
side her is whispering, while she passes it out of 
her mouth to the teacher? She thinks she is 
making a fine showing, and is getting great credit 
for her smartness. Indeed, she is only stealing 
her own clothes. Notice that boy again : his 
class sits in regular order; he is No. 4; he is 
counting the questions, to see which one will 
come to him; and these are all of the lesson he 
intends to look at. He is chuckling, too, at the 
thought of how smart he will be, and how skill- 
fully he will shun labor, and get the advantage 
of his teacher. But alas ! he is only stealing his 
own clothes. Take another look at that girl: she 
was lazy last night, and did not look at her les- 
sons. She goes to school just before the time to 
recite. When she comes, she puts on a long, sad 
face, goes up to her teacher, and says : " Please 
let me go home; I do not feel well." Her kind 
teacher permits her to go. She goes sneaking 
along home, feeling like — like what? Like the 
man felt when he found he had stolen his own 
clothes, and did not know where to find them. 
Now, my clear school-mates, do you ever steal 



Educating the Mind. 63 

your own clothes? I hope not. But if you 
do, I affectionately exhort you, in the language 
of Scripture : " Let him that stole, steal no 
more." 



64 Scholastic Literature. 



THE WEAKER SEX. 

BY SALLIE P. DAVIS. ^ 

When or by whom this appellation was given 
to woman I know not; yet, like an axiom, it is not 
only too plain to require, but even to admit, of 
demonstration. 

The blame, or rather the shame, if there be any, 
contained in this term, rests exclusively on those 
whose pride it is to echo and reecho this unjust 
epithet, wounding the heart of every woman who 
has any regard for those rights which she should 
ever strive to defend. That we are inferior to 
man at present, as regards intellect and mental 
capacity, is justly allowed; for reason and obser- 
vation teach us, as weak as we are, that our judg- 
ment and intellectual powers are far surpassed by 
man, the mighty lord of all creation. And why ? 
Simply because the same means have never been 
used, the efforts have never been made, to cultivate 
and expand our minds, as have been made to en- 
large and increase the capacity of his. Man it is 
who rules the world by that inexhaustible supply 
of wisdom which he claims to be his by the dis- 



The Weaker Sex. 65 

pensation of an All- wise providence; and he boasts 
of his high prerogative and exalted station which 
he assumes to be the design of the Omnipotent for 
some wise unrevealed purpose, when it is indeed 
nothing but the result of his own efforts to place 
himself at the head of all created beings, efforts 
also quietly acquiesced in by those he delights to 
stigmatize as the weaker sex. 

But I greatly fear a cloud of gloom and repen- 
tance has long been gathering around the eternal 
throne; for if it once repented God that he had 
made man, when both sexes were included, how 
much deeper must be his repentance now when he 
beholds the depth to which his favorite sex has 
fallen! for surely none will pretend to deny that 
man is many degrees below woman in crime and 
degradation, and that he is far from living in ac- 
cordance with his high and noble calling. That 
she is by nature weaker intellectually than he, is any 
thing but true ; and yet he dares too often to offer 
himself to the poor weak daughter as one worthy 
of imitation ! And man, who is willing that the 
weakness of frail woman should be manifest, is 
too often obsequiously attentive to this miserable 
caricature of the noble ones of her sex, rather 
than to the woman of cultivated intellect and high 
moral principles. Here we perceive the mystery 
revealed and proceeding from the will of man, 
guilty, in this way, of a deed, not perhaps dis- 



66 Scholastic Literature. 

honorable, but not so noble as his boasted eleva- 
tion of character demands; but he frees himself 
from all the shame of his deed in this respect by 
affirming that it was the decree of Him who spake 
all things into existence, that woman should be in- 
ferior to man. On the supposition that this is 
true, what plea can he offer for his inconsistency? 
for instead of placing us within the limits of 
equalization, he has studiously placed all means of 
elevation beyond our reach. And is this an indi- 
cation of superior intellect, not to aid those who 
really stand in perishing need of assistance ? Yet 
this is the disposition exhibited by man for many 
generations. But that the weaker sex have a 
greater propensity to extend the hand of mercy 
to all who need their aid, is a foundation for which 
I will remark, in the lans:uao;e of another: "If 
woman has one less cell in the brain, she has one 
fiber more in the heart." 

But this is claimed as one proof of our weak- 
ness — having a heart ever ready to sympathize 
with the sorrowful ones of earth, and weep with 
those that weep. Jesus, the meek and holy Sa- 
viour, wept while in this cold, unfriendly world 
of ours, and why may not we? And who does 
not desire to experience some of those feelings 
that heaved the bosom of the Son of God? 

But again, if woman is so much weaker than 
man, why is it that he requires so much more 



The Weaker Sex. 67 

time to accumulate the amount of knowledge he 
must necessarily have? Why so many years of 
study and scientific investigation which parents 
allow their sons, while three are amply sufficient 
for the daughters? But if the interest in female 
education increases as it has done for ten years 
past, but few more will have to run their rounds 
before woman will share those advantages which 
have too long been the special property of man, 
and his alone. And I sincerely hope the time 
may come, and that speedily, when the term, 
"weaker sex," which we so much spurn, and con- 
sider to be so unjustly applied to us, will no 
longer exist, and that w T e will cease to be an ob- 
ject of man's pity; but that he shall find a kin- 
dred spirit with which his own may mingle, en- 
couraged by the same hopes, and fired by the 
same aspirations.- Then will he find that he has 
been deceived in regard to our intellectual strength 
and mental capacity, and that we are not abso- 
lutely — what some have been pleased to term us 
— the merchant's sign, or a frame to hang dry 
goods on. To go farther, and enlarge upon woman's 
rights, is wholly unnecessary; as I sincerely trust, 
and would fain believe, that many among the other 
sex, if not all, begin at last to comprehend the 
fact that woman is, not so much by nature, but 
by education — or rather, the lack of it — the in- 
ferior of man. 



68 Scholastic Literature. 



"WHEN SHALL WE ALL MEET AGAIN?" 

BY MOLLIE HUNTER. 

The associations of earth are very touching. 
We mingle together in the pleasures of the social 
circle, while the winged moments of life pass 
sweetly, as the halcyon days of fancy-loving hope. 
The buddings of affection begin in the rosy-tinted 
morning of existence, and unless withered by the 
blightings of some cruel train of bitter disap- 
pointments, they cease not to send forth bright, 
encircling tendrils, until we slumber in the dream- 
less, wakeless tomb. We are surrounded with 
scenes and friendships delightfully pleasing, and 
unconsciously love's fond attachments increase 
with each fleeting moment, and the effort to sever 
them alone reveals their strength. Perhaps to 
the thoughtless, whose minds never dwell upon 
the reminiscences of by-gone days, this may seem 
weak and foolish; but before the judgment of 
those whose opinion we value, we present no ex- 
cuse. 'Tis an attribute of our nature, and we 
are glad that it is. True, the separation of friends 



"When Shall We all Meet Again?" 69 

is painful, and the sacred countenances which 
never quailed beneath a foeman's gleaming steel 
are often stained with unbidden tears, when the 
shrill clarion of war is hushed in the sacred still- 
ness of peace, and disbanding squadrons wheel 
away on the march for home. But even in this 
there is a melancholy sweetness over which, in 
the twilight of remembrance, the spirit loves to 
brood, and receive the dewy influence of its holy, 
tranquilizing power. Chide us not, then, should 
we drop affection s parting tear when we utter 
the faint farewell, and turn from the scenes with 
which we have been so intimately connected. A 
few fleet months have swiftly flown since first we 
gathered in this temple of science for the culti- 
vation of the intellectual faculties — the brightest 
gift of God to man. We were strangers then, 
but now each for.m and voice, by association, has 
grown familiar; and even these friendly walls, 
which have sheltered us from sun and storm, seem 
to greet us with benignant smiles. Friends, per- 
haps I need not repeat the growing sense I have 
of your kindness, yet I know not how to forbear. 
I love to recall to mind the various ways in which 
it has shown itself, as it dissolves my whole soul 
in the tenderest love and gratitude to you and my 
God, whose hand I cannot but view therein. If 
I look back, I must say, even since my first ac- 
quaintance with you, I have been treated by you 



70 Scholastic Literature. 

as a friend and sister. Ours have been golden 
advantages; and if we have failed properly to 
appreciate and improve them, we ask the chari- 
table judgment of the critic, and hope to profit 
by the lessons of the past. But the hour of 
separation is approaching, and when the farewell 
greeting is extended, the familiar chime of the 
calling-bell shall have ceased its frequent sound- 
ings; and my ever-inquisitive mind, running out 
into the future, thoughtfully inquires: "When 
shall we all meet again?" When shall we again 
enjoy the pleasures of each other's association, 
and together drink of the well-springs of knowl- 
edge, or gather the beauteous flowers that fringe 
the bright, green pathway ? When shall we bow 
to instruction's willing voice again, and look upon 
the scenes we have loved so well? Shall it be 
when the orchard is bending beneath its luscious 
load, and the golden harvest is waving in the 
breath of summer? Shall it be when earth, 
stripped of her emerald robe, is dressed in a sil- 
very sheen, and swept by the sighing winds ? 
Shall it be in the dewy morn of spring, when the 
anthems of God's choristers are rising as incense, 
redolent with the perfume of bright, blooming 
flowers? Shall it ever be, within the circle of 
this fleeting life? Or shall some of us be slum- 
bering in the forgetful tomb, when this temple is 
again made vocal with commingling voices? 



"When Shall We all Meet Again?" 71 

"Whether we meet again upon the shores of 
time is very uncertain; but we will cherish the 
breathings of hope, which whisper a happy re- 
union in the spirit-land. Then by faith cast your- 
selves, for time and eternity, on that Saviour who 
is the only foundation that will stand sure — who 
alone is able to support you when heart and flesh 
fail, and to give you a place at his Father's right 
hand when time with you shall be no more. Then 
let us banish every anxious care; for if we never 
meet on earth, the best meeting is in reserve. 
Yet a little while, and we shall meet beyond this 
vale of tears — meet to part no more; have nothing 
to interrupt our happiness; for we shall be freed 
from sin, affliction, death, and every thing that 
has troubled us here below. Here the parting 
hand is given, and the fountain of affection weeps 
its crystal tears, when the associations of friend- 
ship are severed; but there 'tis one bright sum- 
mer always, and hope's bright beauties never fade 
away. Then fare ye well ! And spending life's 
golden moments wisely here below, may we mingle 
there our anthems of melody forever ! 



72 Scholastic Literature. 



THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY. 

BY F. B. FISHER. 

Plume the mind with swift-winged imagination, 
mount the lightning of speedy thought, and travel 
back a thousand years, lost in the deep, deep, and 
buried past, and there you will find the subject of 
this address. In the dusky horizon of that gloomy 
day of barbarity is shining a single star of civili- 
zation, trembling like a pure love-thought in the 
heart of dark, dark night. 

Thirteen centuries ago the flood-gates of human 
woe were lifted up, and its angry waters swept 
over the home of civilized man. Shadows deeper 
than the darkness of the grave, thicker than the 
veil of Egyptian night, hung over the liberty and 
laws of man. By one incomprehensible, stupen- 
dous revolution, sweet civilization was lost in the 
thick shades of barbarity; lost, like the sun that 
sinks behind the western horizon, to give place to 
the deep shades of night; lost like the warm, 
genial summer, that yields to the piercing winds 
and cold snows of winter; lost like the victim of 



The Order of Chivalry, 73 

the vampire bat, that is fanned to keep it quiet 
while its life-blood is sucked away ; lost like the 
aerolite that flits away ere you can point to its 
place. That brilliant sun of civilization that 
warmed into life the stupendous Roman Empire, 
with its arts, sciences, poetry, and laws, went down 
into the darkness of anarchy and superstition. 
No longer did the voices of Cicero and Demos- 
thenes, with their honeyed eloquence, charm the 
ear of an enraptured people; no longer did the 
stern philosophy of Plato, Zeno, and Cato hold in 
check the fiery passions of man, but their stoic 
voices were drowned by the wild notes of unculti- 
vated mind; no longer did Pindar, Horace, and 
Virgil strew the flowers of poesy over the Olym- 
pian plains. All, with their godlike beauty and 
grandeur, had gone, and there reigned a monster 
in political ethics, as hideous as the dark Makanna, 
the veiled Prophet of Kharasson, whom 

" No church-yard ghost caught lingering in the sight 
Of the blest sun, ere blasted human light, 
With lineaments so foul, so fierce, as those 
The impostor now, in grinning mockery, shows." 

That monster, with his scepter of iron, voice of 
death, breath of fire, feet of flame, eye of blood, 
and heathenish darkness, streaming his locks, was 
called the " Middle Ages." Anarchy and misrule 
was his code of laws; foul revenge, that tramples 
4 



74 Scholastic Literature. 

on the dead, his cause of war; superstitious and 
cloven-footed Mohammedanism his religion; rea- 
son, virtue, benevolence, and all those finer feel- 
ings of humanity, were prostrate at his feet; yea, 
swallowed up like the prophet-chief Amphiaraus, 
whose virtues the gods determined to rescue from 
the stain of an odious conflict with the Polynices 
and the Thebes. In vain did reason's voice call 
through the blackness of cloud and storm, in vain 
did shrieking virtue cry for help against the rough 
legion of this beast of blood. 

Amid this prevailing darkness the " Order of 
Chivalry" originated, and beamed forth a dim light 
of civilization. It came from the spontaneous 
effort of human nature to express its feeling of 
love, honor, and benevolence ; as sprang the youth- 
ful hero of Syracuse, all lovely in form, with his 
shoulders of ivory, from the red, hissing caldron 
of the gods, so sprang the " Order of Chivalry," all 
pure and white as unfallen snow, from the red-hot 
caldron in which that dark monster boiled a na- 
tion's blood. It rose not like the brilliant sun of 
civilization that now shines with tenfold luster, and 
warms every cheek with an intellectual glow, and 
makes merry happiness dance in every eye, but 
like the streaks of morn that ran as the harbinger 
of a coining sun, like the steady-branded torch of 
Glod that kept in the van of Israel's host as they 
trod the sea and cloud-walled path that led through 



The Order of Chivalry, 75 

the wet sands and over the coral hills, of the Red 
Sea. It came, from no palace halls, where learn- 
ing with studied thought decks its creatures in its 
gayest dress, but came from the silver home among 
the hills and rippling streams of unlettered Ger- 
man tribes. This solitary light of civilization, 
shining on the world like the "lone lamp trembling 
in the tomb," continued to brighten until that cloud 
of barbarity and superstition that had wrapped 
the world in gloom gave way before its piercing 
rays like the fabric of a night's -dream before the 
morning's dawn; "like the snow-flakes that fall 
in the river, are seen for awhile and then melt for- 
ever." 

Its first gentle beams rested upon the crested 
head of that mountain of wrong that was crushing, 
like an incubus, upon woman's innocence and vir- 
tue, and its black and bleak form, startled and 
affrighted, gave way beneath their gentle touch, 
like giant shadows in the cavern's depth before a 
single ray of light — receded like the circling waves 
of the Red Sea from the magic wand of the leader 
of Israel's host. Ruthless anarchy had trailed in 
the dust, all torn and tattered, and dripping with 
innocent blood, that pure white escutcheon of 
woman's virtue. By man's brutality and inhu- 
manity she was made an article of traffic, and 
that wondrous spirit of chivalry that sprung like 
a wild flower on the desert waste, armed with the 



76 Scholastic Literature, 

symbol of that flaming justice-pointed and light- 
ning-wreathed sword, lifted her from the depths 
of dark degradation, into which her wrongs had 
driven her, and led her into the cool shades of 
love's ambrosial bowers, to live amid its sweet- 
scented vines and lilies bright. 

A true knight of this order staked his life upon 
defending, not only his own lover against Rome, 
but redressing every insult offered to woman ; and 
when in solemn splendors he received his spurs, 
shield, and helmet, he lifted up his hands and 
called God, St. Michael, and St. George to witness 
his fidelity to honor, benevolence, and especially 
to the character of woman. And faithfully did 
he observe this solemn pledge, often risking life to 
do the most trivial courtesy; entering the lion's 
den to pick up the glove of the hand he loved; 
yes, to the faithful adherence of the knights to 
this solemn pledge are due all the high and virtuous 
emotions w T ith which we associate the name of 
woman. 

The next step of chivalry was to hasten to the 
storm-throned Woden, who thundered forth no laws 
but of passions full of lust for blood ; and they 
shouted to him in the pauses of the storm, saying 
there were such principles as freedom and honesty 
— that they ought to be observed, even in his bloody 
carnage. That monster that had cursed a world 
with unholy crimes, glutted himself on human 



The Order of Chivalry. 77 

gore, quenched his thirst with widows' tears, and 
danced in merry glee to the horrid music of or- 
phans' cries, trembled for his throne at the wild 
notes of this heroic order, and though he refused 
to quit the abode of men, he argued to the relent- 
ing of his rigid laws, and to deliver into their 
hands those dark, infernal legionary passions that 
had made his curses more accursed. Yes, if there 
is such a principle as civilization in that barbarous 
art called war, it is due to that soft, genial light of 
"chivalry." In this day of brilliant intellectual 
culture, in this day of religious learning, in this 
day of national honor, no other law will that vam- 
pire of human blood observe than that which the 
" chivalry of honor" forced from him, the cruel and 
rapacious day of which I have spoken. 

The next step of this order was to fly to the 
rescue of Christianity. Already was the moslem 
walking with a conqueror's pride over the "City 
of the Great King;" the sandaled Parian holding 
his bloody orgies in the holy courts of the temple 
of Jerusalem; the dark flood of Mohammedanism 
was sweeping Christianity before it like a ship- 
wreck before the maddened waves of the storm- 
tossed ocean. The long, loud, deep blast of the 
thunderings of God's holy law from the flame-girt 
Mount Sinai, that delayed the fiery sun and 
checked the moon in its merry round, was gradu- 
ally dying on the dull ear of a sin-smitten and 



78 Scholastic Literature. 

God-cursed world. To free those holy courts 
from the polluting tread of sandaled Parians, and 
prepare a pure resting-place for the " Son of man" 
at his second coming, chivalry enlisted under the 
banner of the cross. Thus began the Crusades, 
those romantic expeditions that astounded the 
world with their order, uniting all the tribes of 
Europe, from the Baltic to the Straits of Gibraltar, 
in one common cause of war. The blood-red 
cross floated o'er their van, and their hermit-leader 
led the storm of war, hurling his steel-clad war- 
riors against Asia's sandaled hordes, until he placed 
the waving cross above Jerusalem's rescued tower. 
For nearly two centuries the best blood of Chris- 
tendom flowed in this desperate struggle, and no 
less than six millions of lives were offered up as 
a sacrifice for the cause of Christ from the stream- 
ing torch of this bloody carnage. Genius, brooding 
over the past, rose, phenix-like, and soaring in the 
clearer light of Christianity, scattered from her 
wings the refined dews of science, arts, poetry, 
and laws, and belted the world with commerce, 
that golden girdle of the globe, thus making the 
jewel net-work of civilization that now wraps the 
world in its splendor. 

The last crowning measure of this child of 
honor was to force from ignorance that grand 
palladium of freedom called the Magna Charta. 



Onivard and Upward. 79 



ONWARD AND UPWARD. 

BY KNOX A. McCONNEL. 

It is not my mission to-day to extol the god of 
war, or to sing the praises of the far-famed Au- 
gustus; but be it mine to speak of the onward 
and upward progress of the scientific world. 

There is no human being that is fully satisfied 
with his present enjoyment. The mind of man is 
ever on the wing in search of new acquirements, 
of new objects, and, if possible, of greater facility 
than the present moment can afford. Thus it 
matters not however exquisite any particular 
theme may at first sight appear, it soon begins 
to lose its relish and pall the intellectual appetite, 
which reaches forth to grasp the yet hidden treas- 
ures and unfold them in their sublimity to the 
age, that the progress of science may not deviate, 
but still, through countless nges yet to come, her 
course may be onward and upward. Thus the 
ardor with which the philosopher prosecutes one 
discovery after another, without ever attaining a 
resting-point, or setting himself down content with 



80 Scholastic Literature. 

his present achievements, "lie ponders through the 
labyrinth of a most busy life," that, while the 
many eagerly search the volumes of his scientific 
work, he may be able to hand down other impor- 
tant themes for the minds of men to feast upon, 
thereby rendering his name immortal, to be spoken, 
in praises by posterity, and those who prosecute 
the cause of science after him. Reflecting with 
the lightning speed of thought to the date that 
Cadmus introduced the use of the alphabet into 
ancient Greece, which then consisted of but six- 
teen characters — but since that date the different 
nations have been dealing in the cause of science 
and literature — that alphabet has been greatly im- 
proved, and others adapted from it to suit the 
different tongues and kindreds of the earth, and 
to-day ours presents itself to the eager eye of man 
in number twenty-six, by which we are able to ex- 
press any thoughts, conditions, or desires known 
to the human family. And again, cast back a 
thought to the ancient Arabians or Moors, who in- 
vented the nine digits, and strove for a series of 
years to gain a knowledge of the science of mathe- 
matics without ever obtaining its use farther than 
common arithmetic and algebra; but ancient 
Greece and Rome, far-famed for the cultivation of 
literature and the fine arts, and, as it were, the 
Alma Mater of science, took strictly in charge this 
particular branch; they greatly improved the arith- 



Ontvard and Upward. 81 

metic and algebra of the Moors ; also attached the 
hook of geometry, to-day the most renowned with- 
in the whole mathematical course. They also 
dealt in the sciences of philosophy and astronomy, 
those beautiful works, the one a lover of wisdom, 
the other that treats of the terrestrial and celestial 
globes — their magnitude, construction, their dis- 
tance one from the other, the time in which the 
earth performs its annual revolutions round the 
sun; but as to what extent they produced those 
works of science there may be some conjecture. 
Still, they gave them great rise as sciences, and, 
after the downfall of those mighty empires, they 
were pursued by persons in different parts of the 
earth, and thereby the names of a Brahe, Kepler, 
Gassendi, and others, have become immortal; they 
stand recorded on the bright pages of history as 
those commanding the master-minds of the age. 

Also, Sir Isaac Newton, of a more modern date, 
the most profound philosopher and mathematician 
the world ever saw, who died, in the year 1727, at 
the age of eighty-five years; a death regretted by 
the entire world. If historical tradition be cor- 
rect, his father died at quite a tender age of Sir 
Isaac's infancy; still, his fond mother took great 
care to prepare him with a splendid education. 
At the age of eighteen he entered Trinity College, 
where he began to display his wonderful mind for 

mathematics, in which he made numerous improve- 
4* 



82 Scholastic Literature. 

ments. At the tender age of twenty-two he dis- 
covered the method of fluxion, upon which he 
afterward greatly improved. His next was the 
grinding of glass for the improvement of the tele- 
scope ; soon after, he followed the theory of light 
and color; but his greatest discovery, and the 
greatest known to the world, was universal gravi- 
tation, and his sublime work was published in the 
year 1687. Still, after the publication of his 
work, he did not abandon his studies; he still 
strove to gain a farther knowledge of the sciences 
in which he was engaged. His motto was, Ever 
let our progress be onward, yea, upward. 

But notwithstanding those towering minds 
worked in the cause of science and literature up to 
the date of 1765, the forces of nature were yet 
confined to that of wind and water. But Robert 
Fulton soon learned to convert heat into steam, 
and apply it to the driving of machinery, which 
gave rise to the locomotive that " darts across our 
broad and fertile plains with frantic fury," con- 
veys the merchandise from one portion of the 
country to another, and enables man to visit the 
most remote parts of the continent, comparatively 
so to speak, but in a little time. 

Up to this date the sun, by its daily returns, 
had marked the fleeting hours of the life of man, 
and Daguerre had not made use of his light as the 
docile instrument of the art photography — to that 



Onward and Upward. 83 

date it had not entered the mind of man : chemistry 
has since had its origin as a science, and Lavoisier 
has rendered his name immortal by the discoveries 
which explain the reciprocal relations of matter 
composing the earth, with the same clearness and 
as indisputable as the laws of Newton to the 
movement of the stars that adorn the blue vault 
of heaven. Earth, air, and water have been de- 
composed ; the nature of metals and that of car- 
bon are no more unknown; and the nature of the 
acids, alkalies, and salts, now used in so many 
ways of art, was then but obscure problems. The 
cause of combustion is no more ignored; the ex- 
istence of gas is now clear and distinct from that 
of atmospheric air; the proximate principles of 
plants and animals have been defined, their respira- 
tion has ceased to afford a mystery, their nutrition 
an enigma. Agriculture is no more a blind and 
devastating practice/ ruining in turns the different 
parts of the globe, but, comprehended in its many 
beauties, is prosecuted throughout the different 
nations. Also, the secret mystery of the angry 
lightning that once prevailed, has been extorted 
from nature, and the lightning-rod will ever serve 
to direct the thought of man back to Dr. Frank- 
lin, who discovered the identity, and gave it rise 
for the preservation of the human family. The 
electric wire is now a familiar scheme by which 
the thoughts of man are conveyed from one por- 



84 Scholastic Literature. 

tion of the earth to another; it connects different 
nations and cities, and enables man to converse 
with the towering minds of the age, though miles 
apart, as though they were at such a distance that 
their voices might be perfectly audible. 

Up to the date, 1765, " geology was an inspired 
romance, but since that time the surface of the 
earth has been explored, and the formation of the 
globe has been revealed in the age of the relative 
mountains, in the former condition of the Alps 
and Pyrenees, and of their rival chains." In fine, 
the eye of man penetrates the broad profundity 
of space ; he assigns to each star the place in its 
orbit that it must occupy; he marks out the path 
in which it must move; he weighs the sun, he 
analyzes the substance of which it is composed, 
as though it could be placed in his crucible; and 
he has acquired the right to say of what elements 
the stars consist that bedeck the azure sky. 
Again, he transforms light into heat, heat into 
light, electricity into magnetism, magnetism into 
electricity, and all these forms of action into me- 
chanical power. He applies to his use all the 
forces and all the gifts of nature; indeed, his pro- 
gress has been onward and upward, until he has 
the right to say, if matter and the forces which it 
obeys afford a mystery that he does not know, 
the increasing light of modern science will open it 
to his view. 



Mutation. 85 



MUTATION. 

BY G. W. EWING. 

We look abroad over the extent of our beauti- 
ful land, and we see poor, weak, frail man, toiling 
and striving after the transitory things of this 
world, little heeding the expression, but too true 
sentence : "Dust thou art, and unto dust returnest." 
There 's not a flower which blooms so bright, whose 
sweet perfume is wafted afar by the gentle breeze; 
there 's not a bird which sings so gay, giving us ex- 
amples of cheerfulness, but which bears the fatal 
impress of, ^Dust thou art, and unto dust re- 
turnest." There's not a tinge of beauty's cheek 
which it does not discolor. We see it impressed 
on the brow of the manly youth, upon the frail 
bark of the aged; in a word, decay is indelibly 
written upon every page of nature's boundless 
book: flowers, birds, man, cities, countries, and 
worlds. The seasons are subject to change ac- 
cording to the lex naturce. Winter comes with his 
cold and chilling blasts, and we must feel his icy 
grasp; summer comes with steady march, and we 



86 Scholastic Literature. 

must feel his scorching rays. The inclemency of 
the air injures our health, and we must decay. It 
is not in our power to change this established 
course of things, namely, the laws of nature, or 
winter, summer, cold and heat, rain and sunshine ; 
but it is in our power to rise from idleness, degra- 
dation, and ignorance, to a state of knowledge and 
virtue. Let us address ourselves to the Ruler of 
the universe, as did Cleanthus : "Parent of nature, 
Master of the world, wherever thy providence di- 
rects my footsteps thither will I turn." Thus let 
us speak, thus let us act. Resignation to the will 
of God is true magnanimity. But the sure mark 
of a low and base spirit is to rebel against the 
changes God sees fit to make. While we are enjoy- 
ing the boon of health and the gayeties of youth, 
we are standing on a narrow span, regardless of 
the future ; yet a moment's reflection teaches us 
that the hcfur is swiftly approaching when things 
shall be not as they were. Towers piercing the 
sky, splendid edifices and solemn shrines; yea 
this vast globe on which we dwell, with all the 
shining hosts which surround it, shall melt, crumble 
to dust, and be no more. We, and they, and all 
their inhabitants shall be changed. But we shall 
survive: "an angel's arm can't snatch us from the 
grave, and legions can't hold us there." The 
trump of God shall sound, and the Lord, who once 
said, " Lazarus, come forth," shall descend with a 



Mutation. 87 

mighty shout; then shall the dead burst forth 
from their resting-place, to sleep no more in their 
dusty chambers ; " Then shall this mortal put 
on immortality, and death be swallowed up in 
victory;" then shall we cease to behold the blue 
canopy of heaven; then shall we cease to hear the 
mutterings of the distant thunder, and to behold 
the vivid flash as it rends the sky — scenes which 
now impress us with wonder and admiration. We 
shall look around us and see all nature dissolving 
into dust; the flowers of spring, the leaves of 
autumn decaying, never to revive. I repeat, we 
shall all be changed, not gradually, but in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye. 

Let us go back, through swiftly-flying years, to 
some of those celebrated cities, such as Rome, 
Jerusalem, Babylon, Alexandria: look at the 
changes they have undergone from grandeur, 
beauty, and sublimity, to a mass of ruins, fit only 
for the habitation of bats and owls. Autumn is 
a great teacher, to remind us of the changes which 
cities, countries, empires, and kingdoms undergo; 
for as the leaves bud and continue growing in 
spring, and in autumn fall blasted and molded by 
the hoary frost, so kingdoms rise, flourish, and 
perish in ruins. mutation ! powerful is thy 
arm, and thy ruins never cease ! A thousand cities 
lie buried in the dust, laid low by thy hand! 
Greece — beautiful, lovely Greece — the home of 



88 Scholastic Literature. 

philosophy, poetry, and song — where are thy halls 
which once resounded with the eloquence of a 
Demosthenes, whose palaces were filled with the 
learned of the world ? Thou art no more ! Rome ! 
w T here are thy glittering towers, cloud -topped 
palaces, and lofty temples? Crushed as with a 
besom of destruction! Thy once proud banners 
are torn, moth-eaten, and gone to dust, and thy 
boasted victors have filled warriors' graves long 
since. Music, laughter, and merry voices have 
ceased to resound in thy decorative halls, Troy ! 
But why should we go to those ancient cities to 
view the mighty power of mutation? Where is 
the noble Stonewall Jackson, who led our valiant 
troops to fight our country's foes by the side of 
Albert Johnson? They, too, are gone, and we 
have cause to mourn for them. Our sunny land 
should be draped in mourning for these and many 
others. If you could have asked our fathers and 
brothers, who fell scorched with powder, sunburnt, 
bleeding, and dying, where their companions were, 
they would perhaps tell you that when they saw 
them last, they were dying on the field of Manassas, 
Chickamauga, or some other field of carnage: we 
stood by them till the hand of mutation bore them 
away. Sad change! They are gone from earth 
forever ! Where are the peace and plenty we knew 
before this cruel war? "Echo answers, Where?" 
Show me, my friends, a land where, in a period 



Mutation. 89 

of time, mutation did not exist, and I will show 
you a star that never shone and a leaf that never 
was shaken by the breath of heaven. The halls 
where once the gay and festive met, to join in the 
giddy dance or to listen to the charming tones of 
the lyre, have gone down the tide of returnless 
years, and wild grass marks the spot where they 
stood; the footsteps of that once joyous throng 
echo down the corridors of time, and step by step 
we tramp after. The owl's solitary cry at mid- 
night's hour adds to the solitude which surrounds 
their moss-covered resting-place. The palms which 
once were borne by conquerors, the garlands which 
crowned the warrior's brow, have sunk into obliv- 
ion. Hills and mountains, the bulwarks of nature; 
massive domes, the labor of years, are alike the 
sport of the ruthless hand of untiring mutation. 
No edifice is too sublime, no work of nature too 
mighty, no world too powerful, to resist the power 
of its arm. A few more years, and all who tread 
this earth's joyous step, all upon whose faces smiles 
are now playing, will be no more. Xerxes, when 
reviewing his army of men without number, be- 
cause no one of them would be alive a hundred 
years to come, wept. The rich, the poor, the old, 
the young, the gay, the beautiful, are all fit sub- 
jects for the hand of mutation, and they will soon 
have passed away and sleep beneath the clods of 
the valley. How careful, then, should we be to 



90 Scholastic Literature. 

be prepared for our solemn change, since some 
diseases reach us and others pass on to strike our 
neighbors ! From the Dirge on Bion we may select 
a beautiful and consoling thought: 

'OmroTSTrgdra 
Idvafieg dv&x<50i &v %iovi xoiXa 

Et> doveg ev \idXa fiaxpbv arep\iova vrjyperav vttvov, 
KaiTjfxeig \iev ev ay a nenvxaofievdi eaceai ev yd. 

Which is: "Whenever we are dead, we sleep 
unheard of in the hollow earth, the long, long, 
endless sleep from which we never awake, and we 
even in silence shall be in the earth." But the 
gloom of this picture is removed in the description 
of the sacred poet by the prospect of a resurrec- 
tion, "when the heavens shall be no more;" but 
here all is unmitigated darkness, the chilling hor- 
rors of an eternal sleep : 

" But there 's a bright world to which we go, 
Where no changes we shall know. 
Here, joy to-day — grief to-morrow ! 
There, there is no pain or sorrow." 



"Be a Hero in the Strife." 91 



"BE A HERO IN THE STRIFE." 

BY W. D. L. RECORD. 

To say that life is a strife, is but to utter a truth 
and abridge into a single sentence that which the 
history of man has recorded from the earliest ages 
to the present time. This strife may be divided 
into spiritual, intellectual, and moral, and lasts, by 
the mighty fiat of the Jehovah, with unabated 
fury, "from the cradle to the grave." It was 
first sent upon man as a curse and penalty for 
transgression, when, in plucking the forbidden fruit, 
he disregarded and trampled under foot the divine 
law, and thereby lost his original perfection and 
purity, and stained his untarnished spirit with the 
fearful blot of sin. But the curse has become a 
blessing, the penalty a mercy, and man, who went 
forth from an Eden, dwelling without a care, into 
a world, to be reclaimed by toil, trial, and trouble, 
and there to wage a perpetual conflict with the 
obstacles of nature, now finds this rugged warfare 
essential to the development of his physical, in- 
tellectual, and moral character, and to that domin- 



92 Scholastic Literature. 

ion over the .works of nature which he was de- 
signed by his Creator to exercise; for if there 
were no difficulties to overcome, no obstacles to 
surmount, nothing by w T hich his strength of char- 
acter, his better and superior nature, could be 
drawn out, he would indeed be a beast. But it is 
so arranged that, from the time that he embarks 
upon the tempestuous sea of life, he must encoun- 
ter the terrors that are ever agitating the waters. 
The elements darken around him, as the storm- 
cloud, in all its horrible grandeur, arises upon him 
with terrific appearance, threatening to rend asun- 
der his craft, and engulf and give him a nameless 
grave beneath the unfathomed waters. The light- 
ning shoots its forked tongue, with angry glare, 
across his horizon, and the thunders shake the 
waters beneath him; the waves, driven on by the 
fury of the winds, toss his vessel against the 
breakers; and thus lashed by every angry billow, 
he must stem his way across, keeping ever a firm 
hand to the helm and a sure eye on the look-out, 
that he may direct his bark into a safe moorage. 
No matter what lot be assigned him, he must live 
continually in strife. Mother earth refuses to 
yield the necessary sustenance unless cultivated. 
The mind that has not rebelled, warred, and torn 
itself from darkness, ignorance, and superstition, 
is scarcely above the soulless creation : the heart 
that has not overcome its worldly temptations can- 



"Be a Hero in the Strife." 93 

not be acceptable to its Creator. Jlere we will 
not dwell longer, for these are facts which none 
will attempt to gainsay. And to meet and suc- 
cessfully combat these requires the energy and 
wisdom of the hero ; for, to our mind, a hero must 
be one of courage, of strength, of character, with a 
mind to conceive and a will to perform. These qual- 
ities made Odin a god and Mohammed a prophet; 
gave renown to the names of Napoleon and Wash- 
ington, and were the characteristics of Luther 
and Wesley. Endowed with these, men have 
arisen from most humble stations, conceiving and 
executing grand designs in advance of their age; 
shed abroad their own superior brightness into the 
dark places of earth, by means of which they have 
heaped up for themselves pyramids of renown, 
that the storms of time can never destroy. 

These are the characteristics of heroes, as shown 
from history ; for universal history, the history of 
what man has accomplished in this world, is at 
bottom the history of great men, who worked 
their way through the world, and who were en- 
dowed with these very principles. These great 
men were the teachers of men, the modelers, 
patterns, and, in a wide sense, the creators of 
whatsoever the general mass of mankind have 
continued to do or attain. All things that we see 
standing, accomplished in this world, are properly 
the outer and material results, the practical reali- 



94 Scholastic Literature. 

zation and embodiment of thoughts that dwell in 
the minds of great men sent into the world. The 
whole world's history, it may be partly considered, 
is their history. " These are the lights which en- 
lighten, and which have enlightened the darkness 
of the world, not as lamps only, but rather as 
natural luminaries, shining by the gift of heaven 
— flowing light, fountains of native, original in- 
sight, of manhood and heroic nobleness, in whose 
radiance all souls feel that it is well with them." 

But having thus shown that life is a strife, and 
that it requires the effort of the hero to meet its 
issue, we are now prepared to take up the subject 
in its full import, and exhort that, amid the calami- 
ties in which it has fallen to our lot, as a genera- 
tion, to live, not to permit our energies to stagnate, 
and bury our talents in the earth, but with spirits 
that no misfortune can suppress, and no strife in- 
timidate, to go forward boldly and be heroes in the 
strife. No age ever needed heroes more than the 
present; no government ever called in more plain- 
tive tones for them than ours calls to-day, to 
snatch her from the gulf of destruction, over the 
fearful brink of which she is now inclining ; for 
she is but the sinking, decaying form of what she 
once was, and is rapidly going the same sad rounds 
traveled over by those nations that have long since 
taken their stations among the things that were. 
She must be supported and aided by efforts almost 



"Be a Hero in the Strife." 95 

superhuman, or ere many years have gone by, and 
their records enrolled upon the scroll of time, she 
will have plunged into the pit of oblivion, and 
buried us, unblessed and unhonored, beneath her 
ruins. 

Morality and religion call upon the rising gener- 
ation for support — for heroes upon whose shoulders 
the present strife in life must soon rest. Those 
who have so gallantly supported it, must, enfeebled 
by age, yield the cause to the young and vigorous, 
who must bear it on boldly, keeping pace with, 
or perchance outstripping, the tide of time in their 
march of triumph, or, through cowardice, must 
shrink back from the contest, causing, by such ac- 
tion, the finger of scorn to be pointed at us — a 
cowardly and inactive generation, who permitted 
the good of mankind to degenerate in our hands. 
Then let there be action in the strife, remembering 
that — 

" Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 

Is our destined end or way ; 
But to act, that each to-morrow 

Finds us farther than to-day." 

It behooves us to spread knowledge throughout 
the various classes of society. Hitherto, and even 
at the present time, superstition, the child of igno- 
rance, has a very large sway; and in this broad 
field of battle, heroes may well press forward, for 
if a more general diffusion of knowledge would 



96 Scholastic Literature. 

have a tendency to dissipate these superstitious 
notions and false alarms, to increase the pleasures 
and enjoyments of mankind, to promote mechani- 
cal arts, to administer to the comforts of general 
society, to prepare the way for new inventions and 
discoveries, to expand our views of the attributes 
and the moral government of Deity, to prepare 
the way for the establishment of peace and har- 
mony among nations, and the extension of the 
Christian Church — if such a position is true, what 
higher calling is there for man ? What field more 
open for heroes, where, unblushing, they may 
exert their utmost strength of body and mind? 
This is, indeed, a high calling, in which the most 
splendid talent and consummate virtue may well 
press on, eager to bear a part. " For it is the 
highest occupation of the hero to further on intel- 
lectual refinement, and to hasten the coming of 
that bright day, the dawn of which will chase 
away the lazy, lingering mist, even from the great 
social pyramid." 

Of its practicability there can be no doubt, for 
nations, prior to this time, living in the lowest 
grade of barbarism and most benighted ignorance, 
have been raised, by proper exertion, to walk the 
bright paths of intellectual attainments. And 
what man has heretofore done, man may still ac- 
complish ; but, as a general thing, he has been too 
much absorbed in the pursuits of war and devas- 



"Be a Hero in the Strife." 97 

tation. Had a tenth part of the treasures and 
exertions that have been wasted in mad and im- 
moral pursuits, been rightly directed, they would 
have been more than sufficient to bring the means 
of instruction within the reach of every individual 
of the human race, and to transform the barren 
wastes of every clime into the appearance of 
terrestrial paradise. 

Then, if we would be remembered — 

" If, dying, we would leave behind us 
Foot-prints on the sands of time, 

In the world's broad field of battle, 
In the bivouac of life, 

Be not like dumb, driven cattle, 
Be a hero in the strife." 

Let us ride upon the storm, mount and over- 
come the opposing waves, striving "to elevate, to 
exalt, to adorn the character and alleviate the 
miseries of our species, and to render the world 
which we inhabit, like the heaven to which we 
look, a place of innocence and felicity." If thus 
we act, the goal is ours, and we will leave behind 
us, when we have passed from earth, monuments 
of virtue, that will remain unbroken and unshaken 
beneath the tread of ages. "Though we exist no 
longer than those ephemera that sport on the 
breezes of the morning, during that short time let 
us rather soar with the eagle, and leave the record 
5 



98 Scholastic Literature. 

of our flight and fall among the stars, than to 
creep with the reptile, and bed our memories and 
bodies together in dust." However short our part, 
let us act it well, that we may be enabled to sur- 
render our existence without disgrace and without 
compunction of conscience. 



Passing Aivay. 99 



PASSING AWAY. 

BY C. A. ARMSTRONG. 

When we contemplate the broad expanse of 
the material world, we are enchained, as to our 
wonder and admiration, by the phenomena and 
beauties of Nature that present themselves to our 
astonished gaze on every hand; and, as to our 
love and reverential awe, by the omniscient, om- 
nipotent, omnipresent, immutable, and beneficent 
hand that molded them into existence, and in- 
stituted for them such immutable and harmonious 
laws. We are delighted with the systematic order 
of the dazzling sun, the pale moon, and the twink- 
ling stars ; the beautiful comet, dashing, as it were, 
its glorious effulgence in its rear — that gorgeous, 
brilliant appendage which has excited the wonder 
and admiration of man for ages — and wending its 
way through systems of worlds upon worlds; and 
the evanescent meteor, gamboling and promenad- 
ing athwart the ethereal regions, inspired as with 
emotion of the beautiful, the grand, and the sub- 
lime. When we view the myriads of suns like 



100 Scholastic Literature, 

our own, with their respective planets, and these 
with their satellites, all revolving round one great 
common center with the greatest concord and har- 
mony, and the far-distant nebulae, whose peculiar 
properties have never been satisfactorily unrid- 
dled by the scientific investigation and the deep 
researches of man, we are held spell-bound with 
awe and amazement at the mysterious attributes 
and combinations of the King of kings. All of 
these are truly and mysteriously grand ; but alas ! 
on all is written — yea, stamped in indelible and 
emblazoned characters — "Passing away." The 
decree has gone forth that these sparkling gems 
that deck the azure vault of heaven shall be 
erased from the great cerulean scroll, and the sun, 
and moon, and Nature itself, shall be discharged 
from their stations, and be employed by Provi- 
dence no more. And how manifest is the fact, 
for we see it stamped upon atoms throughout Na- 
ture's vast, boundless domain ! We see it in the 
modest dew-drop and the blushing rose, in every 
blade of grass that germinates upon the field, in 
every flower that bedecks the picturesque land- 
scape, and in every leaflet of the forest. We see 
it in every hamlet that peeps from behind the 
boisterous Atlantic, and radiates from the placid 
Pacific. We see it in every dark and lowering 
cloud that hangs threateningly in the heavens, 
and plainly perceive it in the morning mist, as it 



Passing Away. 101 

suddenly vanishes before the approach of the ris- 
ing sun. We see it in the variegated and golden- 
hued rainbow, and in the lightning's vivid corus- 
cation. We learn it in the low-moaning zephyrs, 
in the angry storm, in the deep-toned thunder, 
and in the ocean's sullen roar. We see it in the 
gently- flowing streamlet and raging river. We 
see it depicted in the countenance of the tender 
youth, and in the hoary locks of the aged sire. 



102 Scholastic Literature. 



PRIDE. 

BY E. M. FISHER. 

Upon such occasions as that which has con- 
vened this assembly to-day, public expectation 
has been taught by a vicious custom to look for 
gorgeous fancy pictures, interwoven with bursts 
of nervous eloquence, rather than life-paintings of 
fact in the frame-work of plain, familiar expres- 
sion; and were we disposed to seek the origin of 
this teaching, ifc might easily be found, together 
with other unnumbered streams of evil, flowing 
from the one great parent fountain designated as 
the subject of this address — pride — the curse of 
fallen angels, the destroyer of human happiness, 
the fatal herald of approaching woe! Who has 
not read the soul-stirring epic of Milton, and ex- 
perienced a sensation of sorrow that even angels, 
creation's moving stars, should have been subject 
to this destructive passion— that it should have 
found a lodgment in their pure minds, and been 
nourished there, until it broke out in open rebel- 
lion against the authority of Heaven, and termi- 



Pride. 103 

nated in their final expulsion? What historian 
can trace the record of misery through the ages 
that have fled since they were hurled from the 
lofty battlements of the celestial world? Leagued 
together in one eternal confederation, the avowed 
purpose of which was to wage ceaseless war 
against the designs of the Almighty, they went 
forth upon their nefarious mission; and the his- 
tory of earth, chronicled with blood, attests but 
too truly their unexampled success. Goaded with 
keener anguish by every new accession to their 
serried ranks, and yet enjoying a fiendish satis- 
faction at every triumph they achieve, their zeal 
and perseverance suffer no change, but increase. 

But leaving these poetic fancies, although they 
may be true, we may come nearer home, and dis- 
cover the practical workings of this pernicious 
principle. It has created artificial costs in the 
social world, which are at once incompatible with 
worldly progress or fraternal affection. The 
haughty millionaire, inflated with pride, because, 
forsooth, he has been either more fortunate or fa- 
vored than others, driving in princely splendor 
along the thoroughfare, disdains to look upon the 
sturdy yeoman at his accustomed toil, although 
he doffs his shapeless hat, and makes obeisance 
to the passing lord. When the day of feasting 
comes at the home of the wealthy and proud, no 
kind invitation finds its way to the humble dwel- 



104 Scholastic Literature. 

ling of the poor. In the great congregation as- 
sembled for the worship of that God " who has 
made of one blood all the nations of the earth," 
the existence of this evil is manifest. Witness 
the difference shown to one who enters your 
crowded churches arrayed in all the splendor of 
wealth and fashion; while one of humble worth, 
clad in the neat, plain garb of poverty, is all un- 
noticed, unless there falls upon him a look of 
withering scorn. How often do those by whom 
they sit down gather up their flowing robes, and 
sweep disdainfully away, as if they feared con- 
tamination by the plebeian touch! how such 
senseless, slavish victims of this hateful monster 
are to be pitied! It has destroyed the comfort 
and happiness of many households, where, but 
for its untimely invasion, plenty and enjoyment 
would have reigned supreme. For the sake of 
keeping up appearances, thousands have con- 
tracted obligations which they were unable to 
meet; and thus staking, they have lost all for the 
gratification of a senseless, suicidal vanity. 

This pernicious influence, first fastening upon 
the mind of youth, accustomed to look upon the 
gorgeous and fascinating rather than the plain 
and real, fills it with golden imagery of magnifi- 
cent display and pompous equipage, and thus lays 
the foundation for extravagant expenditure, which 
soon results in poverty and ruin. Not only so, 



Pride. 105 

but withdrawing the mind from the lofty and en- 
nobling pursuits of wisdom, it becomes fettered 
and chained down to debasing considerations, un- 
worthy the immortal faculties which God has be- 
stowed upon his intelligent creatures. 

Being emptied of the rich treasures of knowl- 
edge which alone give to man an elevated posi- 
tion in the scale of being, it becomes filled with 
the gewgaws of fashion, the bubbles of ambition, 
and the dust of avarice. Designed to be a stu- 
pendous palace, furnished with all the splendid 
paraphernalia of wisdom, its empty, cheerless halls 
echo to the sepulchral tread of its own murdered 
advantages. When, in the evening of life, pro- 
spective vision falls upon the opening tomb, and 
the eye instinctively turns backward o'er the 
scenes of other years, along the gloomy corridors 
of memory there hang no beauteous pictures to 
cheer the sinking heart in the hour of deepest 
despondency. These questions, affecting the 
social or intellectual world, appear of smallest 
consequence in comparison to the moral condition 
of the immortal man. The soul-temple, from 
which ought to have risen the sweet incense of 
love and gratitude to the omnipotent Father of us 
all, has been prostituted to the service of the idol, 
pride. The terrible denunciations pronounced in 
the Book of Truth against the proud, murmur 

like the hurtling thunders of the angry storm-god 
5* 



106 Scholastic Literature. 

at the rayless midnight hour; while peace and 
quietude, affrighted, leave the soul crushed down 
beneath a weight of woe unutterable. Such is 
the condition of the unfortunate victims of this 
peace-destroying, soul-corrupting evil: miserable 
through life, hopeless in death, and wretched 
throughout eternity! 



Onward is the Language of all Creation. 107 



ONWARD IS THE LANGUAGE OF ALL 
CREATION. 



BY J. M. CUNNINGHAM. 



Could we but mount the wings of imagination, 
and, with light-footed fancy as a guide, glide far 
away into the dim vista of other days — yea, even 
into the councils of eternity itself — we would as- 
suredly be convinced that the grand principle of 
progression claims the most ancient date of any 
of the wise and harmonious laws that wield a 
potent sway over the various departments of all 
nature. But let us not be so presumptuously 
bold as to attempt to scan the sublime vastness 
of infinity — a thing which it is impossible for the 
mind of mortal man to grasp; but rather let us 
lift the obscure veil of the past, and look through 
the misty fog no farther than historical facts con- 
firm and geological investigations influence. We 
glean from history, both sacred and profane, that 
this law has influenced the destinies of man from 
creation's dawn to the present, and daily experi- 
ence and observation show conclusively that this 



108 Scholastic Literature. 

is the chief moving power over every part of the 
world. 

Astronomical researches convince us that all 
the heavenly bodies are expressive of this great 
law, and subject to the powerful influence it ex- 
ercises over them. The gentle stars whisper it 
in their courses, and the sweet harmony and con- 
cord that they preserve with respect to each other 
prove clearly that they are held in their orbits by 
no other power than the principle of progression. 
The sun and moon bespeak it, as they leave their 
watery couches, climb the golden walls of the 
East, promenade the azure vault, and sink to re- 
pose behind the western hills, and the placid, un- 
ruffled waste of western waters. The transient 
meteor, dancing along the star-studded sky, and 
the blazing comet, with its luminous train, wend- 
ing its course through the immensity of space for 
ages upon ages, tell us that every thing is onward. 
The seasons, chasing each other in rapid succes- 
sion, breathe it, according to the functions of each. 
Spring, with its fresh greenness, its blossoms and 
sweet-scented flowers, its mirth, gayety, and beau- 
ty, and its sweet songsters of the forest warbling 
mellifluous notes to their Creator, has its ephem- 
eral joys and attractions, and passes away. Sum- 
mer, with its rustling corn and mellow fruits, and 
autumn, with its rich harvest and robe of many 
colors, live for a day, as it were, and then invoke 



Onward is the Language of all Creation. 109 

the bleak winds of winter, with iEolian strains 
and Orphean lays, to sing the requiem of their 
faded beauties and former glory. The gentle 
zephyrs whistle it at eventide, and rustle in the 
leaves at midnight, when the busy world is hushed 
in calm repose, and balmy sleep lends its soothing 
influence to weary man. The ocean heaves it up 
on its mammoth billows, and the mountains, with 
snow-capped peaks, rise up and proclaim it to the 
clouds. 

From clime to clime, from pole to pole, from 
heaven to earth, all is onward. From the pel- 
lucid brook, that wends its way along its meander- 
ing banks, to the deep blue sea, every thing is 
onward. The mighty rivers murmur it, as they 
roll on in majestie grandeur, bearing off on their 
placid bosoms the productions of every land. 
The science of geology teaches us that at some 
indefinite period of time — a. period of vast dura- 
tion in the past ; a period, perhaps, of a hundred 
millions of years ago — our beautiful planet was a 
chaotic mass of unformed matter, occupying a 
position upon the outward verge of the solar sys- 
tem; that, by the universal law of gravitation, it 
has been gradually tending toward the great cen- 
ter of attraction; that at first it was occupied by 
the lowest order of animals, which in turn passed 
away and gave place to a higher order, and so on 
successively, till at last appeared man, the most 



110 Scholastic Literature. 

perfect of all. He, too, must fulfill some impor- 
tant destiny, pass away, and give place to a still 
higher scale of beings. But how shall this end 
be consummated, unless by the grand principle 
of progression? "Onward!" has been his watch- 
word ever since he was ushered into existence, 
and progression is stamped upon his very nature, 
and it is this law that tells him that he was des- 
tined to improve his intellectual faculties and 
moral nature, as well as his progression in num- 
bers. From time immemorial it has been the 
means of revealing the mysteries of godliness, 
and showing forth the beauties of Nature and the 
perfection and power of the great Architect. 

Men, customs, fashions, habits, and manners 
are all onward. Countries, cities, towns, and vil- 
lages are all onward. Cities hear its voice, and 
rise into meridian splendor. Nations hear it — 
are numbered among things that were. Kings 
and emperors feel it, and fear preys upon their 
inmost souls. Thrones feel it, tremble to their 
center, totter, and crumble to the dust. It is 
true that man is gifted with noble endowments 
and vast intellectual powers, and has made won- 
derful inventions and discoveries; it is true that 
he has carried the arts and sciences almost to per- 
fection; it is true that he has ascended high up 
the hill of science, and engraven his name in liv- 
ing characters on the tablets of fame; and it is 



Onward is the Language of all Creation. Ill 

true, too true, that he knows "knowledge is 
power;" but at the same time, and notwithstand- 
ing all this, he is fast degenerating, and sinking 
deeper and deeper into crime and wickedness, and 
perpetrating deeds of the deepest dye. But there 
is a time yet pending in the mysterious future — 
there is a time coming when disease will dimin- 
ish, and the duration of life will increase, till 
death will be finally removed from the earth, and 
man shall live to a good old age, and then ripen 
for the harvest, and the soul shall leave the body, 
as the ripe grain leaves the husk. Man will yet 
regard knowledge as a treasure that gladdens the 
heart, dignifies the mind, and ennobles the soul; 
and this glorious time will be brought about by 
this onward principle, and which will prove to be 
the ushering in of the longed-for millennial dawn. 



112 Scholastic Literature. 



VALEDICTORY. 

BY MELISSA J. EWING. 

"In American colleges, a Valedictory is an ora- 
tion or address, spoken at Commencement by a 
member of the class, which receive the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, and take their leave of college 
and of each other." 

Although there is no graduating class with us, 
and it is not, strictly speaking, Commencement- 
day, yet it is like it, in that we have been publicly 
examined upon the several branches studied, and 
have pronounced orations, and are now about to 
take our leave of the Institute and of each other. 
And now in place I appear to deliver the Valedic- 
tory — a farewell essay. 

About six months ago, our hearts were filled 
with anxiety, because we were so desirous for the 
day to come when we might wend our way to the 
Institute and meet and greet our highly-esteemed 
preceptor, the principal, together with his assist- 
ant, our preceptress, whom, perchance, we young 
ladies love more fondly. But the greeting did not 
so suddenly stop with them : we met and greeted 



Valedictory. 113 

each other, and were so happy to see each other's 
faces again in the hall, and so much enjoyed the 
introductory. Then with alacrity we entered again 
upon our studies, and have prosecuted them with 
a good degree of energy, and this is the reason 
why we have so well acquitted ourselves on this 
occasion. During the former part of the term, we 
were able to study carelessly, both forgetting the 
past and not dreading the future, only caring to 
study, and to study closely, and to improve the 
golden moments of youth as they pass; but so 
soon as we entered upon the latter half of the 
term, our hearts began, not to fail us in real dread 
of examination-day, but to throb with a renewed 
impulse to study — an impulse provoked in part, 
'tis true, that we might be able to stand a good 
examination from a little sense of pride in this 
direction, but mainly that we might prove, to the 
perfect satisfaction of our parents and guardians, 
that our respective teachers have been faithful, and 
that we have applied ourselves to study and made 
marked progress. 

And truly it is cheering, in these days of edu- 
cation, to be so much encouraged by so large, so 
respectable, and so respectful an audience as we 
have had. 'T is certainly enough to stimulate any 
lazy or naturally idle boy or girl to study here- 
after. What more is needed than to witness the 
intense interest taken in our behalf? 



114 Scholastic Literature. 

" 'Tis education forms the common mind: 
Just as the twig is bent the tree 's inclined." 

This is a very true saying ; for if noxious weeds 
and rude pressure be permitted to grow up with 
and divert the erect and symmetrical growth in 
maturity, it will ever be imperfect. And it is so 
with the mind. If neglected and uneducated, 
ignorance, imbecility, and perchance vice, will 
make rapid inroads, choke its faculties, and render 
it a bare nonentity or a nuisance. But when prop- 
erly cultivated, well-educated, well-informed, and 
stored with all useful knowledge and learning, then 
how different! — then its regent is fitted to be a 
useful member in society ; and, as the saying is : 
"He will make his mark." The mind is, then, 
" like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 

But we are not going to read an essay on edu- 
cation : that task has been undertaken by an able 
and distinguished legal gentleman, and patron of 
our school, and no doubt will be very ably per- 
formed. From near and from a distance, from 
within town and from the country, they come to 
witness the examination. Lest we might make a 
failure, and their elevated expectations not be re- 
alized, we have felt some degree of dread and ap- 
prehension; but what has been done is done; and 
if any spectator has found himself imperfectly 
edified, then it is hoped he will not have passed 
too hasty and severe a sentence upon us, but made 



Valedictory. 115 

sufficient allowance for slight imperfection. Dur- 
ing the term now being closed, our teachers have 
been very kind to us ; lenient enough in our dis- 
obedience and idleness, yet bringing discipline to 
bear in all cases of necessity. And thus the genial 
principles of the school have been maintained, and 
the regulations kept inviolable. For all their acts 
of kindness, coupled with fortunate efforts to in- 
struct us, we heartily tender them our sincere 
thanks, and we trust the community will liberally 
encourage and support Mr. Darnall hereafter. 

And now we turn to each other, and with all 
necessary confessions ask of one another forgive- 
ness, if at any time feelings have been wounded ; 
and we ask pardon, each one of the other. For 
so many acts of kindness we thank each other 
too; and we will not forget to express gratitude 
to kind parents and guardians for privileges of 
school. 

Now, for a time, we come to bid each other, in 
the sense of a valedictory, an affectionate farewell. 
In the language of the poet: • 

" When shall we meet again ? 

Meet ne'er to sever? 
When will peace wreathe her chain 

Bound us forever? 
Our hearts will ne'er repose, 
Life from each blast that blows, 
In this dark vale of woes, 

Never, no, never ! 



116 Scholastic Literature. 

" When shall love freely flow, 

Pure as life's river ? 
When shall sweet friendship glow, 

Changeless forever? 
Where joys celestial thrill, 
Where bliss each heart shall fill, 
And fears of parting chill, 

Never, no, never ! 

" Up to that world of light 
Take us, dear Saviour ; 
May we all there unite, 

Happy forever ! 
Where kindred spirits dwell, 
There may our music swell, 
And time our joys dispel, 
Never, no, never ! 

" Soon shall we meet again — 

Meet ne'er to sever ; 
Soon will peace wreathe her chain 

Round us forever ! 
Our hearts will then repose 
Secure from worldly woes, 
Our songs of praise shall close, 

Never, no, never!" 



Farewell. 117 



FAREWELL. 

BY H. N. C. DAVIS. 

Every moment that rolls by buries beneath the 
dark waves of time's ever-moving sea some dead 
human thing; each moment that flits by, like 
shapeless shadows of the wind-footed cloud that 
passes over the sun, bids us an everlasting fare- 
well. Days, months, years, and ages roll on, like 
an ocean's swell, engulfing beneath its cold waves 
the most colossal achievements of man. Farewell 
— that mournful, magic word of the heart, that 
has been written in such black and frowning char- 
acters athwart the universe — is the subject of our 
address on this occasion. It is stamped upon the 
broad, " aerial ocean," that sweeps earth in its cir- 
cling tide, ebbing and flowing like a "thing of 
life ; " it trembles in each star that sparkles in 
the broad canopy of heaven; it mingles in the 
crested billows of old ocean's surge, and glitters 
in the dew-drops that fill the lily's cup ; it glows 
in the gorgeous colors of the west at the decline 
of day, and rests in the blackening crest of the 



118 Scholastic Literature. 

gathering storm-cloud ; it is in the mournful winds 
that sigh through the mountain's tall pines, and in 
the cataract's roar, that comes bounding through 
the air from dark chasms, between mountains of 
ice, and over rivers of frozen glass; it is in the 
lightning that rends the mighty oak, and in its 
" quakes that shake the mountain's firm base, and 
uproots the leviathan's bed. Yea, this terrestrial 
sphere of God's vast universe, with its heart of 
fire and sea of water, bears no less the visible im- 
press of this frightful epitaph. But if the voice 
of nature sin^s such mournful melodies, what must 
be the poignance of our hearts when we hear this 
word, or it is written by the dear ones we love? 
ye pilgrims of a brief and mental existence ! ye 
wanderers through the vicissitudes of life! how 
often have the accents of this sad word rung in 
your ears? Ask the mother, who has clasped for 
the last time to her bosom her dying infant, with 
heaven's beauteous smile upon its face, what is 
it that heaves her pure white bosom like foam- 
crested, storm-tossed billows of the sea ? It 's the 
accents upon its lips of " Farewell, earth's bright- 
est treasures ! " Yes, my friends, it is the last sad, 
yet sweet, word, that is written upon memory's 
tablet; it is a link between the living and the dead 
that no change in life can erase. Touch the golden 
clasp of memory's severed book, and on its hal- 
lowed pages trace the scene of the last six years. 



Farewell. 119 

Do you not remember when trie roll of the drunu 
and the shrill note of the fife broke the stillness 
of the morn, and stirred the frenzied blood of the 
brave warriors? Do you not remember the force 
and effect of this word when you clasped that 
brother by the hand as he hurried away to the 
field of battle, where the stars and bars were 
proudly floating over 

" The land where now ruins are spread, 
And the living tread light on the hearts of the dead; 
The land that is blest with the dust, 
And bright with the deeds of the down-trodden just"? 

Yes, my friends, then we could truthfully sing: 

" How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
By all their country's wishes blest ! 
When spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns to deck a hallowed mold, 
She then shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than fancy's foot had ever trod." 

To my teachers, whom I have met so often in 
the classic halls of that old Institute, allow me, in 
behalf of the students, to return our gratitude for 
the many lessons of pious instructions that they 
have so willingly and so cheerfully given us ; and 
whatever may be your vocation in the future, rest 
assured that you have our well-wishes and earnest 
desire for your prosperity. May your footsteps 
be guided by Him who does all things well; and, 



120 Scholastic Literature. 

f in conclusion, accej!l our affectionate farewell for 
awhile, perhaps forever. To my school-mates with 
whom I have been associated for the last six 
months: To-day we must sever that chain of 
friendship that has bound us together. I hope we 
have made improvement to do honor to this in- 
stitution of learning. Hard, indeed, for us to 
separate without the assurance that we will ever 
meet again on earth. But if we are never assem- 
bled together again as a school-band, let us so 
hope and act as will enable us to meet around the 
white throne of Him who rules yonder sparkling 
canopy. 



Literary Address. 121 



LITERARY ADDRESS. 

BY RICHARD WARNER, Jr. 

By kind solicitation, I am flattered with the 
honor of appearing before you, on this occasion, 
to deliver an address upon Education — a subject 
that ought to fire the soul of every lover of lib- 
erty with deep emotions and unyielding anima- 
tion — one that makes me tremble with diffidence 
while attempting to exhibit its lights in their 
true coloring; therefore, excuse my undaunted 
boldness in endeavoring to paint a glimmering 
shade of its fountain-head. This, I am constrained 
to say, has, in every age, time, and generation, 
met with too little promotion and encouragement, 
which causes the present as well as all past gen- 
erations to weep in ignorance and blood. " Edu- 
cate" is derived from the Latin word educare — 
meaning, to lead or draw out ; hence, it is devel- 
oping the physical, mental, and moral system of 
man. The teacher is the sun that sheds light 
upon the pathway, and conducts the student 
through the meandering wilderness to the planet 
6 



122 Scholastic Literature. 

of science, whence millions have extracted from 
the foundation of the world, yet, like the sun, 
has illuminated the world for near six thousand 
years without diminishing in density, weight, or 
size. That the teacher may know how to lead, a 
correct idea should be obtained of the object to 
be led. This necessarily divides my subject into 
three heads, to wit: physical education, intellect- 
ual education, and moral education. The object 
of physical education is to insure a sound and 
vigorous frame of body, and a perfect symmetry 
of animal organization, which is a necessary con- 
comitant of an active, strong mind. This branch 
of my subject should first engross the attention 
of those who have the early training and devel- 
oping of the child's frame. The mother becomes 
the first educator, and, in order that Nature may 
be untrammeled, is simply required to keep the 
child in health. For this provision Nature has 
implanted signal prerequisites of tenderness in 
the female heart — a feeling w T hich always insures 
an unfailing kindness, and lulls to sleep the 
rougher passions, that would toss the babe as the 
storm the ship upon the bosom of the ocean; but 
woman, the counselor of the human race, and 
calmer of the tempests of life, moves in her 
sphere with a miraculous tenderness and super- 
natural influence that has bafiled the skill of the 
learned world. To know how she bends the 



Literary Address, 123 

world at her will, and leads man captive to the 
temple of Christ or the feet of Satan, has invited 
the attention and employed the talent of the 
learned world. 

By a gentle extension of Eve's hand, the hu- 
man race was dashed from Christian bliss to moral 
death; but to glorify God, and redeem man, she 
became the means by which Christ was made 
visible, as the pillar of fire and cloud in the wil- 
derness, to lead Israel to the promised land. On 
the one hand, her breast is but a target for the 
cruel darts of satire; on the other, her heart is 
the great fountain of Christian revelation, which 
awoke the genius of Paul, the revelation of John, 
the eloquence of Luther, and made this a land of 
Bibles and churches. She has richly verified the 
poetical strains of Homer and Virgil, with music 
sweeter than the notes of Apollo's harps, which 
melted the winds to melody, made mountains nod, 
and reared the magnificent walls of Troy. Be- 
hold her at one time, weak, and washed in the 
tears of grief, as she bows before the gods of ad- 
versity: the next moment she is seen standing as 
a heroine, buoyed up by angelic smiles, boldly 
facing its most withering blasts. Thus the soft 
smiles that cheerfully radiate from her charming 
countenance melt the icicles of hatred into the 
calm tides of joy. Pure as she may be, misan- 
thrope man often sends quivering at her fame 



124 Scholastic Literature, 

the poisoned darts of slander. Might I not ex- 
claim : 

" Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow, 
Thou shalt not escape calumny " ? 

Give her defamers full credit — they only prove 
some have fallen; "and angels fall." Scan the 
pages of history from time immemorial, and at 
once we are struck with the idea that man has 
been by far more indolent in giving the proper 
development to the youthful frame than woman; 
for when the child passes into boyhood, his care 
shifts from mother to father, whence Nature be- 
comes much retarded, instead of assisted, in nour- 
ishing the youthful frame as it winds its way to 
the bloom of manhood. No nation presents us 
the grand advantages gained more strikingly than 
ancient Greece and Rome, where the youths were 
taken in the earliest age possible and placed in 
regular, organized schools, and daily trained in 
physical education, till Nature had secured a per- 
fect development, and age had turned the subject 
to the decline of life. Leonidas, at the Gap of 
Thermopylae, with about eight thousand Grecians, 
withstood the attacks of Xerxes, with his half- 
million of Persians, near two weeks; Alexander, 
with thirty-five thousand Macedonians and Gre- 
cians, marched over all Asia, slaughtered millions, 
and put to flight many more; Csesar, with a 



Literary Address. 125 

handful of Romans, crossed the Rubicon, marched 
to the city of Rome, and drove Pompey to Egypt; 
and Antony and Crassus marched into Greece, 
met Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, and crowned 
Rome with the grandest victory of the world's 
renown; yet these nations, like every thing else 
in the course of nature, had their birth, manhood, 
old age, and death; and it makes me tremble to 
think their equal in the education of the physical 
man has not been known since their days. They 
fell; the world shook beneath their mighty ruin; 
physical schools were buried; like the fall of 
Adam, man was driven from the worldly Eden, 
and evils entailed upon the whole human race. 
Is there no God of science to send a Jesus to 
resurrect the dead, and redeem the living? or 
shall they lie, dust of the earth, till the millen- 
nium ? Ah, that some descendant could mold 
this dust into human form, and breathe life into 
its nostrils, that as much might be brought to the 
world as was lost in the fall ! Youths of our day 
are too often in the cradle of ease and luxury, 
refusing regular and uniform habits, and defeating 
Nature's objects, by which, instead of becoming 
robust and manly in body, pale, walking frames 
are the result, without symmetry of organization; 
like the badly-constructed ship, the mighty winds 
lift their hoary heads above the expansive hori- 
zon, and they become floating wrecks upon the 



126 Scholastic Literature. 

bosom of Time. These evils, like pestilence, 
sweep across our fertile plains, locking millions 
in premature graves. They visit the third and 
fourth generations, as the Almighty in his Holy 
Writ has declared. Wealth is one of the vipers — 
a Pandora's box — that spreads these evils through- 
out the land. Croesus, floating in seas of luxur} r , 
was poorer than Lazarus, lying at the gate of 
Dives, begging for the crumbs that fell from his 
table. It behooves us, as a people of wisdom, no 
longer to grasp after frivolities and worldly treas- 
ures; Solomon had them, and tells us, "All is 
vanity." I would it was in my power to color 
this in its true light, and that I could send quiv- 
ering to the heart of every one within the sound 
of my voice darting arrows, as the forked light- 
ning vividly flashing from cloud to cloud, awaken- 
ing them to the support of true national jewels. 
In poetical language, I am led to exclaim : 

"How can he rule well in a commonwealth, 
Which knoweth not himself to frame? 
How should he rule, himself in ghostly health, 

Which never learned one lesson for the same? 
If such catch harm, their parents are to blame, 
For needs must they be blind, and blindly led, 
Where no good lesson be taught or read." 

Having spoken of physical education, I now 
come to speak of intellectual education, which 
signifies developing the mental capacity. It is 



Literary Address. 127 

like applying a telescope to the natural eye — it 
unfolds the many thousand hidden treasures that 
would otherwise lie dormant, and brings them to 
plain view. But for it, the mind would be con- 
fined to the home-circle, and never visit the re- 
mote corners of the earth, nor scan the skies, 
journeying from planet to planet. It is the elec- 
tric spark that passes from person to person, from 
town to town, from city to city, from continent to 
continent, and from world to world; along which 
thought passes, and conveys intelligence from each 
to every other part of the many millions of worlds 
that compose the solar system, chaining them all 
together, in imagination, in form, shape, size, sta- 
tion, cause of motion, and tracing out the lines of 
attraction that run from one to another. It is 
the grand principle that developed the resources 
of the world, and adapted them to man's wants 
and necessities; that gives character to the hu- 
man race, that enriches nations, and protects life, 
liberty, and property. Gems hidden in the dark 
recesses of Nature are of no value; pearls undis- 
covered are useless; diamonds lying in the bot- 
tom of the sea become covered with moss; iron 
lying in the ore-bed is of no utility, but the in- 
genuity of the human mind has taken it from its 
beds, molded it into plows, wagons, guns, found- 
eries, steam-boats, railroads, steam-cars, and a 
thousand other things, enabling man to accomplish 



128 Scholastic Literature. 

a thousand-fold more in the same time. Educa- 
tion is to the mind like labor to the external 
world. Nature presents to us a continued scenery 
of roughness, grandeur, and sublimity : the rough, 
craggy mountains, level, sunny plains, and deep, 
dark chasms, strike us with a godly thought. 
Man comes along, hews down the mountains, casts 
them headlong into the valleys ; cuts away the 
dense, huge forests; builds towns, cities; erects 
monuments; constructs locomotives, boats, tele- 
graphic wires; polishes diamonds and all the pre- 
cious stones, and, in a word, suits every thing to 
his wants, desires, and necessities. So education, 
to the mind, visits every one of the little cells 
and organical chambers, digs up the huge moun- 
tains of trouble and casts them into the pits of 
despair, polishes the passions, refines the tempera- 
ment, makes the actions uniform, softens the feel- 
ings, and chains the person to the chariot-wheels 
of happiness, which move along through all the 
vicissitudes of life without a jostle or totter. It 
so nicely polishes all the departments of the 
mind, that thought may leap into the beautiful 
little vehicle of words, and smoothly glide from 
one ideal residence to another, leaving its impres- 
sion upon each, till it has visited the domicile of 
man's whole phrenological structure. Its rapidity, 
like the electric fluid, encircles the globe in the 
twinkling of an eye, burns the obnoxious gases 



Literary Address. 129 

that hang around the soul, tempting it to evil; 
purifies the heart, and fills the head with an act- 
ive and vigorous brain. It moves from person to 
person, like electricity moving from positive to 
negative clouds, till all around become equally 
filled; so when one mind gets a superabundance 
of ideas, it imparts to those around having less, 
till all become equally filled — that is, filled to the 
extent of their capacity. Thus society imparts 
to surrounding societies, nations to surrounding 
nations, and so on throughout the world. This is 
fairly illustrated in our own nation. As we move 
eastward, we receive light; as we move west- 
ward, we impart light; if we move northward, 
we impart heat; if we move southward, we im- 
part cold. So with all opposites of a positive 
and negative kind. The absence of cold is the 
presence of heat; the absence of knowledge is 
the presence of ignorance — vice versa. 

Let us briefly scan the pages of history, and 
this fact is more strikingly illustrated. From the 
time Adam was placed in the garden of Eden to 
the days of Moses, there was not a word written 
by man — a period of about two thousand five 
hundred years. Here was a total absence of a 
literary education; and the consequence was, 
about sixteen and a half centuries from the be- 
ginning of the world, God inundated and drowned 
all in a flood, because of their iniquity, but Noah 
6* 



130 Scholastic Literature. 

and his family. When Moses became the leader 
of Israel, he marched them to the foot of Mount 
Sinai, pitched his tents, and encamped, and upon 
its topmost tower received the first letters that 
were ever written with the finger of God, on a 
table of stone, known as the "Ten Command- 
ments," which was made the basis of Israel's 
moral and political laws. There was not at this 
time any paper upon which to write. The Egyp- 
tians, the most enlightened of that day, had es- 
tablished some characters called hieroglyphics, 
engraved upon plates of metal or stone. Not 
many centuries after this, it was discovered that 
the bark of certain trees could be used; then 
canvas and tables covered with wax were intro- 
duced; and paper, manufactured from the papyrus 
plant, growing upon the river Nile and in Sicily, 
was introduced in the age of Alexander the Great, 
about three hundred years before Christ; and 
soon afterward Eumenes, King of Pergamus, in- 
vented parchment. The Greeks surpassed the 
world in the cultivation of the fine arts and sci- 
ences in their day and time. From Solon to the 
death of Alexander — a period of about three hun- 
dred years — she was the mistress of the world 
in oratory, painting, philosophy, sculpture, and 
all the fine arts. Alexander, after having con- 
quered the world, established in Asia, at Alex- 
andria, a library that astonished the learned 



Liter art/ Address. 131 

world with amazement, which became the great- 
est theater of learning. Thousands of men were 
daily employed transcribing and writing books 
upon the papyrus - leaf, parchment, and canvas ; 
for printing had. not at this time been invented. 

Greece, having lived her day, fell, and Rome 
sprang up to shine as her successor, or head and 
shoulders above every other nation; hence, science 
continued westwardly in its progress, rising higher, 
until about the days of the Caesars, when it seemed 
to have arrived at the zenith of its glory. About 
the coming of Christ, Augustus Caesar and Mark 
Antony became enemies, and a mighty clash of 
arms took place, in which the city of Alexandria, 
built by Alexander the Great, was burned, and 
the grandest library of the world consumed in the 
flames. Rome began to grow weaker and weaker 
in science, as the voice of the dying swan, who 
never utters a syllable till death has chained it 
upon its dying-bed. About four hundred years 
after Christ, Rome, the great literary light of the 
world, fell, and buried science. The world trem- 
bled as if some volcanic action had shaken it from 
its orb — the sun of science was eclipsed; hence 
the dark ages, called the Middle Ages, engulfed 
the whole word, and ignorance prevailed in every 
corner of the earth; blood, misrule, and anarchy 
reigned everywhere. For a period of about eight 
hundred years the world mourned and bitterly 



132 Scholastic Literature. 

wept, as Peter when departing from a crucified 
Saviour; the inhabitants drifted as a wrecked 
crew upon the broad bosom of the ocean, without 
a guide, like the Jews when invested \>y Titus. 
Disease, pestilence, and famine scourged the walls 
of every city, and they had become so demoralized 
that clan would fall upon clan of the same nation, 
and bury their swords in their own flesh to test 
their sharpness, and the whole country run in 
branches of blood, as if showers from the clouds 
of heaven. 

When Jerusalem fell, there was written upon 
the wings of time her condemnation, under which 
was a picture of the goddess of despair, sitting at 
the root of a palm-tree, with a deathly- green 
countenance, and her own soldiers cheerfully play- 
ing around her, pointing the finger of scorn at her, 
and laughing at her calamity. 

So when Rome fell, the world was bathed in 
blood, and the clouds of darkness hovered over 
every nation as the walls of the Red Sea over the 
children of Israel, shutting out light on every side. 
But to their sorrow, there was no Moses to lead 
them across the mighty waters ; there was no pillar 
of fire to guide them through the wilderness; there 
was no sun of science to show them their situa- 
tion ; there was no strong arm to protect the old, 
infirm, weak, blind, and maimed — might became 
the law of the land. In every direction death 



Literary Address. 133 

stared them in the face, and they could hut ex- 
claim : 

"Me, miserable; which way shall I fly? 
Infinite wrath and infinite despair, 
Which way I fly am hell ! Myself am hell ! 
And in the lowest deep, a lower deep, 
Still threatening to devour me, opens wide ; 
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven." 

Charlemagne — claimed as a saint by the Church, 
as the greatest king by the French, as the country- 
man by the Germans, and as the emperor by the 
Italians — is placed at the head of modern history, 
and reigned about eight hundred years after Christ. 
He planted the seeds of light by which the tree of 
education asrain be^an to receive nourishment and 
food, and the order of knighthood and chivalry 
began to exist, which annihilated the feuds, isms, 
and fictions that fed upon human blood, as wolves 
upon lambs. From these seeds sprang into ex- 
istence the Crusades ; though they rained showers 
of blood upon the whole country, yet they ren- 
dered protection to the tree of science, by firmly 
planting themselves, as the Pillars of Hercules, 
to ward off the brutal attacks of the Mohammedan 
clans and Asiatic demons in their wild career of 
conquest and blood, till the branches spread all 
over Europe, and its roots pierced the center of 
the earth. Under its mild shades knowledge has 
increased in calm repose, until Europe and Amer- 



134 Scholastic Literature. 

ica tower in the skies of intelligence, before un- 
known to the world. 

The revival of learning, in the fourteenth cen- 
tury after Christ, called for cheaper paper. In 
the eleventh century, paper made from cotton was 
invented; and about the latter part of the four- 
teenth century, linen paper was invented by Pace 
Da Fabiano. About the middle of the fifteenth 
century, printing with movable type was invented 
— wooden type was used in immovable form much 
earlier, but the inventive genius of man soon pro- 
duced iron type, and then steel type, of immova- 
ble character. Where kings could not once have 
books, now they decorate every family fireside. 
Fifteen different cities claim the honor of the in- 
vention; but the best evidence shows that Faust, 
SchoefFer, and Gutenberg, of Strasburg, were the 
inventors. The first book printed was the Latin 
Bible, in 1450 or '55, known as the Mazarin Bible, 
from a copy having been discovered at Paris in 
the library of the Cardinal Mazarin. The first 
work printed in England was at Oxford, 1468, 
three years before Caxton began to print in West- 
minster Abbey. 

Gunpowder was first used in Europe about the 
middle of the fifteenth century, by the Spanish 
Moors, in defense of the city of Mebla. Cannon 
was first used by the King of Granada in besieg- 
ing Baya, in 1312. Musketry was first used 



Literary Address. 135 

in 1411, and bombs in 1450. The mariner's com- 
pass seems to have been introduced in Europe, by 
Saracen merchants, the latter part of the four- 
teenth century. 

The order of knighthood, chivalry, and crusades 
dispelled the dark clouds of ignorance that hov- 
ered over and devoured the vitals of society, by 
crushing the feudal system; hence isms, factions, 
and fealty oaths pined into the arms of death, 
and serfdom was abolished. Guided by reason, 
man has traveled through the abstruse regions of 
the pathless ocean, and brought before the world 
the means of accomplishing Herculean tasks. 
By the inventions of man, the ocean has been 
lined with vessels of burden and commerce, chain- 
ing continents together in brotherly love, moving 
the superabundance of one article to a place where 
there is a deficiency of the same, in order to sup- 
ply the wants, necessities, and desires of the whole 
race of mankind. By this, society has been much 
improved in life, liberty, pursuits of happiness, 
intelligence, and the fine arts, and wars, pestilence, 
and famines diminished. By the advantages of 
the compass and commercial intercourse Columbus 
was enabled to discover the continent of America, 
and plant the whole scientific race upon the rich 
shores of its soil; by them, the East and West 
Indies were discovered, and science spread over 
their shores ; by them, outlet has been continually 



136 Scholastic Literature. 

found for the densely-populated old countries, to 
empty their starving millions into "lands flowing 
with milk and honey." God, the controller and 
ruler of the world, has furnished the means for 
suffering humanity to supply their wants. He 
works all things according to his own will, and 
punishes man only for his iniquities. how 
thankful man should be to know that there is One 
upon whom he can rest his weary head, and sup- 
ply his many wants ! 

By the printing-press the world has grown in 
science and literature from a mere pigmy to a 
huge giant. Where kings could not once have a 
primer, now the poorest serf can have volumes ; 
where ministers of the gospel could not once have 
a Bible, they decorate the family fireside of every 
cottage; where missionaries could not once be 
heard in cities, they now unfold the genial pages 
of the Bible among the savages of the wilderness; 
where the sun could not, for thousands of years, 
shine upon a book of God, now he cannot lift 
his brilliant head above the eastern horizon, or 
hide his dusky face behind the western hills of 
one. 

The seed of science has been planted in the 
heart of every nation, and the tree has spread 
its green foliage over every continent. Unlike 
ancient Greece and Borne, the fall of a single na- 
tion or continent could not bury it in ruin; for 



Literary Address* 137 

the remaining tree would receive additional nour- 
ishment, spread wider, and grow deeper. Edu- 
cation is the architect of human actions, thought, 
and feelings; it hews off the rougher parts, calms 
the raging winds of passion, softens the feelings, 
and makes the actions consistent. It decorates 
society with jewels more precious than gold, dia- 
monds, or rubies — in church, in the parlor, in the 
home-circle, in the school-room, and, in a word, 
everywhere. It purifies the marital state, and 
makes woman man's true companion, intellectually 
as well as physically. By it we are taught that 
woman is as much supreme in her sphere as man 
is in his, without which she is incapable of fill- 
ing properly her sphere — consequently, an ill- 
suited companion. It is true, in the primary du- 
ties of woman her qualities of gentleness and 
goodness may suffice, without much education. 
But when we learn that the early training of 
children devolves upon her, and that man is a 
being of warm feelings, passions, and active in- 
tellect, he must have a companion with whom he 
can confer — in whose judgment, reason, and opin- 
ion he can safely confide. Besides, the more you 
combine respect with learning, the deeper, more 
enduring, and more blissful become the affections. 
Thus commingled and improved, it reaches the in- 
tensity, and acquires the true dignity of a passion. 
The man that finds in the woman of his choice, 



138 Scholastic Literature. 

not merely a person suited to his taste and affec- 
tions, and gentle to his wishes, but a mind richly 
cultivated, alive, and discriminating, combined 
with a sound judgment, so that he can respect and 
confide in the partner of his bosom, is indeed 
blessed beyond the common lot of mortals. 
he has gained a victory by far greater than Caesar 
over Pompey on the plains of Pharsalia ! She is 
the early trainer of national jewels, over the up- 
rising of which a nation may prosper or sink in 
ruin; she makes first impressions and inclines 
the twig; she nurses and rocks the mind in in- 
fancy, and directs the vessel to its grand port of 
destination. In all useful machinery, the most 
essential parts lie hidden from the casual observer; 
so it is with the complicated machinery of human 
society — the mainspring and moving powers lie 
within the precincts of home, only to be seen as 
they are exhibited upon the busy stage of life. 
The faithful mother, who toils from year to year, 
watching the bud as it unfolds into manhood, may 
scarcely, if ever, be heard of a few miles from 
home ; but still she is preparing material for the 
great world, that will tell of her long after she has 
been cut off from life and deposited in the silent 
tomb. What is known of those matrons who gave 
character to Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Clay, 
Webster, and thousands of others, who arrived at 
eminence, and blessed the world with their bright 



Literary Address. 139 

examples and patriotic deeds ? She is the beauti- 
ful flower of the national garden, that entices the 
pretty butterflies to gather for a resting-place. 
Education, the sun that unfolds the bud, gives it 
strength and vigor; without it, like the rose-bud, 
the beautiful treasures are all hidden. Woman, 
an angel of mercy, moves from sick-chamber to 
sick-chamber to comfort the diseased, and lends a 
willing hand and heart to the needy. Education 
teaches her to minister correctly, and suits the 
medicine to the disease. She is the aurora — the 
most beautiful of all the firmament — and lends a 
light to the surrounding stars. Education lights 
up the whole skies, and she receives enough to 
make the others opaque, though bright, and lends 
them light to travel their pathway. She, though 
the greatest of nature's handiwork, is but a pigmy 
in her natural state, when compared with her cul- 
tivated condition — the contrast is so great that the 
most powerful mind is lost in endless space in at- 
tempting to calculate the distance between the 
two. How powerful her mind ! how great her in- 
fluence ! What a debt of gratitude the Egyptians 
owed to Cleopatra, who swayed the scepter of 
Egypt for many years ! Who can measure the 
magnitude of Elizabeth's greatness, the virgin 
queen of England, that planted the Protestant re- 
ligion, and rocked it in its infant cradle ? What 
does the Russian Empire owe to Catherine, who 



140 Scholastic Literature. 

guided the brutal hand of Peter the Great, and 
planted intelligence in Russia's broad plains ? Be- 
hold the giant mind of Josephine, that counseled 
and directed Napoleon in all his successful battles 
as a pillar: when removed, the French Empire fell 
and crushed Napoleon in its ruins ! But think of 
Joan of Arc, who marched at the head of the 
French army, inspired the desponding soldiery, 
and freed France from the English yoke ! Only 
turn to Queen Victoria, of England, and see what 
a masterly influence she wields ! 

The youthful mind having been rocked into boy- 
hood by the mother, passes, with its early training 
and inclinations, into the hands of the father, to 
continue its progress in regular growth. What a 
mystery ! But imagine the growth of an invisible 
being! We can only present this to the natural 
eye by visible illustrations. I would, were it in 
my power on this occasion to present to you the 
mind in visible form, that you might see its mirac- 
ulous parts, the prime mover of the body, the 
pilot that guides the vessel through the stormy 
tides of life, that gives life to every form of hu- 
manity — that undying life which, with perishable 
organs, failing limbs, and fainting senses, erects 
its perennial monuments, and climbs the hill of 
science and immortality, which shall endure when 
all earthly things have passed away. Indeed, 
what pains are not spared to shelter, clothe, and 



Literary Address. 141 

feed the body, to shield it from disease, and rear 
it up in vigor ! How much more important that 
the cares of the mind should be attended to, that 
the individual may not pass through life without 
any development of the great vital powers ; that 
he should not, in the language of the Scriptures, 
"Have eyes, but see not; have ears, but hear 
not." The body of man is not starved except in 
case of cruel necessity; on the contrary, it is 
pampered by whatever it desires. The healthy 
child is reared into the healthy man; its little 
limbs will learn to stretch unfatigued over vast 
mountains and expanded plains ; the arm that 
could not cast a small pebble may learn to wield 
the anvil-hammer of Vulcan, used in manufactur- 
ing thunder-bolts for Jupiter ; while the invisible 
man will remain unnourished and neglected to 
dwindle into an insignificant pigmy. Intellects 
that could mount the hill of science, ride the 
mighty tides of knowledge, and shine as polished 
jewels, lie covered with moss, hidden from the 
external lights of the world. Capacities that 
might have explored nature's deepest chasms, 
mounted the starry heavens, surveyed the vast 
planets, and traveled in discoveries till lost in in- 
calculable distance, often pass through life clouded 
in ignorance and superstition, unaware of the most 
familiar truths. Thus stands the strong, athletic, 
and vigorous body, breathing the pure air of 



142 Scholastic Literature. 

heaven, well-proportioned in all its parts, but the 
mind is choked and clogged till it becomes puny 
and but an inactive dwarf. Could we but behold 
it with our natural eye, it would excite within us 
the deepest emotions of sympathy and pity. 
Could we see and measure the vast difference be- 
tween the cultivated and the uncultivated mind, 
as the physical dwarf and giant, amazement would 
shock our senses as the electric shock from a gal- 
vanic battery, and we would cry, in poetical lan- 
guage : 

"Infernal world, and thou, profoundest hell, 
Receive thy new possessor — one who brings 
A mind not to be changed by place or time. 
The mind is its own place, and in itself 
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." 

The mind thirsts for knowledge as the body 
for food, and the educator tenderly feeds it with 
a mild and ministering hand. Education supplies 
its wants, necessities, and desires, and gives it 
strength, activity, and vigor — so food, care, and 
attention do for the body. Then is not a solemn 
duty, a tender and sacred trust, placed in every 
man's hands, and all parents faithfully enjoined 
to fulfill it? What, sir! feed a child's body, and 
let his soul hunger? Pamper his limbs, and starve 
his faculties ? Plant the earth with grain, cover 
the hills and valleys with stock, pursue the wild 



Literary Address. 143 

animal to his hiding-place, and drive the fish to 
the waters of the expansive ocean, to supply the 
wants of the body, which is of few days and full 
of trouble, and let the pure spiritual essence with- 
in, with all its glorious faculties and capacities for 
improvement, languish, pine, and die? Build fac- 
tories, erect colossal pyramids, unchain the im- 
prisoned spirits of steam to plow the rivers, oceans, 
and interior of the country with commerce, and 
the vast machinery of the world, to weave gar- 
ments for the body, and let the soul suffer in na- 
kedness and cold ? Gather immense armies, explore 
the shore of the ocean, line the face of the mighty 
deep with fleets, and sweep over whole continents 
to feed, nourish, and protect the physical man, and 
permit the vital spark breathed into Adam to make 
him a living soul, and intrusted to our care to fan 
into a bright heavenly flame, to go out unnurtured, 
untutored, and uncarecl for ? I know I stand be- 
fore an intelligent audience, who can well weigh 
the importance of an education, and who, I believe, 
have, and will continue to exert, their influence to 
promote and encourage knowledge continually. 
We have brought before us its magnificent marks, 
plainly presented to our view, as the marks of the 
tornado sweeping every thing before it. Well 
may the Indian inquire why the red man has 
failed and the white man waxed strong ; why they 
have dwindled down to a handful of men, and the 



144 Scholastic Literature. 

white race have planted, nourished, and spread 
their people over the five vast continents, when 
their physical frame is more athletic and heartier 
than the white man's. I know of no answer to 
give to this question but the one suggested by my 
course of reasoning: 

"His soul proud science never taught to stray 
Far as the solar walk or milky way." 

His mind was untaught; he was ignorant of him- 
self; he knew not the philosopher's golden rule, 
"Know thyself;" hence, he constantly invaded 
nature's law, impoverished and wrecked his body, 
entailing evil to the third and fourth generation, 
till the whole race float upon the bosom of time as 
a heterogeneous mass of decaying matter. The 
finger of God has written his destination upon 
the walls of time, as visible to the learned world 
as the Prophet Daniel wrote Belshazzar's ruin 
upon the walls of Babylon; and time will soon 
wind into existence a Cyrus that will plant the 
ark of the covenant upon every foot of soil now 
covered by the red man. God endowed man with 
reason for noble and magnificent purposes, and if 
he perverts its objects, his destiny will be written 
in dark characters. Let us cherish those means 
of improvement to which we owe our happier lot. 
But survey the vast world, and at once we are 
struck with the idea that education is the happiest 



Literary Address. 145 

state of man, for the happiest and most prosperous 
nations of the world are the best educated. Eng- 
land, France, Spain, and Germany flourish above 
all other nations in Europe in education; so they 
stand head and shoulders above all the others in 
fine arts, in commerce, in manufacturing, and all 
the stabilities of life. It is said the sun never rises 
or sets off English soil or ships ; her possessions 
extend almost around the entire globe ; her in- 
ventive genius is not excelled in the known world. 
But turn to the continent of America, and we are 
at once struck with the United States as the 
grandest and most powerful nation on this side of 
the ocean; so its people are the best educated. It 
stands this side the waters as a great sun in the 
heavens, lending its light to the planets around. 
It is true this, like all other nations, has its con- 
vulsions by the clashing of antagonistical opinions 
and parties ; so the heavens have their shocks with 
muttering thunder, raging winds, and vivid light- 
nings ; so the earth has its shocks with volcanic 
eruptions, filling the air with acres of land, tons 
of water, and huge stone, overwhelming cities and 
shaking the earth from center to circumference ! 
All this is but the course of nature, burning up 
the obnoxious gases in the air and center of the 
earth, that the machinery may move regularly 
again in a healthy state. So convulsions in society 
may serve only to purify the political air, remove 
7 



146' Scholastic Literature. 

corruption, and put the machinery in regular mo- 
tion a°ain. 

All diseases have their remedy, and if man re- 
mains ignorant of the remedy, it is his fault, and 
he must suffer the consequence. It is true, God 
has not placed the same number of talents in 
every man's hands, but he only requires each to 
use the talents placed there. The servant to 
whom the Lord gave five talents doubled them, 
and the one to whom he gave ten talents doubled 
his; so he declared each to be good and faithful 
servants, equally entitled to credit ; but the one 
to whom he gave one talent buried it — God con- 
demned him as unworthy, and cast him into outer 
darkness. Therefore, he requires every man to 
use the means placed in his power. He that 
buries his mind in ignorance is burying his talents, 
and is condemned as an unworthy servant; but 
he that cultivates his mind, and increases its ca- 
pacity for knowledge, is increasing his talents, 
and will be received as God's faithful servant in 
the end of time. 

No wonder nations have such calamities to be- 
fall them! They bury their talents in ignorance, 
and God visits them with wars, famines, and pes- 
tilence, drenching them in blood, and causing them 
to wear the signals of death and extermination 
deeply pictured in their miclsW-as the Jews, who 
were scattered to the four corners of the earth, 



Literary Address. 147 

never again to assume national form; and the In- 
dians, whose numbers have dwindled to mere in- 
significance. Ignorance generates these calam- 
ities, and they become as clouds, shutting out the 
light of heaven; hence, all become blind, and fall 
into the ditch together. Had I the descriptive 
powers to paint before you the dangers arising 
from ignorance, you would tremble as Felix before 
Paul when reasoning of the righteousness of God. 
I would that I could send to the heart of every one 
the soul-stirring notes of a Byron or Milton, that 
they be aroused to a due sense of their duty on 
this subject — that they no longer hoard up worldly 
treasures, but grasp the helmet of literature, and 
treasure heaven -born jewels. How happy the 
world would glide ! What brotherly love would 
prevail! What seas of joy would float, bearing 
all on the tides of love ! I exclaim : 

"These polished arts have humanized mankind — 
Softened the rude, and calmed the boisterous mind. 
Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, 
And pause awhile from letters to be wise : 
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail — 
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail. 
See nations, slowly and meanly just, 
To buried merit raiseth tardy lust." 

Moral education, next and lastly, engages my 
attention. Above all, this tends more to elevate 
persons and nations. It is the basis of integrity, 



148 Scholastic Literature. 

and groundwork of national durability. The 
mind may be strong, vigorous, and learned in 
many sciences, and yet deficient in this — as the 
mind of Rousseau, Voltaire, Tom Paine, and many 
others. This should be the great leading princi- 
ple and uppermost design of all schools. It was 
educating this principle that made Enoch walk 
with God on earth three hundred years, and 
caused him to be translated to heaven without 
bearing the sting of death. Its education led 
Noah to build the ark, and ride safely in it across 
the mighty waters of the flood to the shores of 
land again, without which the human race w T ould 
have been blotted from existence, root and branch. 
By its education Moses led the children of Israel 
from Egyptian bondage to liberty in the promised 
land. Buoyed up by this, and faith in God, Christ 
withstood the withering blasts, invectives, and con- 
demnations of the scribes and Pharisees, when 
nailed on Calvary to the cross. It was this prin- 
ciple that caused Paul to make Felix tremble on 
his throne as he reasoned of the righteousness of 
God, and to withstand the trials of a Roman 
prison, unmoved in his attachment to a crucified 
Saviour. By the education of this principle, 
Martin Luther was aroused from his ignorant 
slumbers, to stand, as the mighty pillars of Gi- 
braltar, stemming the sweeping current of Roman 
Catholic persecution. Moved by this principle, 



Literary Address. 149 

the Puritans quit their native land in England, 
leaving home, relations, friends, and all that was 
near and dear to them, embarked upon ships, and 
sailed across the perilous ocean to the rock of 
Plymouth, to reside as neighbors of the savage 
Indians and howling beasts of the American wil- 
derness. It moves through the world as a peace- 
maker, calming strife, chaining revengeful spirits, 
and consoling the rough passions of man, that 
would otherwise hurl nations into the clash of 
arms, and line heaven with the dying cries of 
mangled soldiers. In a word, it chains the world 
together as one vast family, all meeting with 
happy smiles, warm hearts, and tender feelings. 
Without it, the world would be as provender, and 
human beings foraging upon it, as the animal cre- 
ation upon the growth of nature, venting their 
spleen upon each other's flesh as demons; the 
political heavens would rain torrents of blood; 
the assassin's knife would be buried in human 
flesh; the chains of government rent as ropes of 
sand; factions spring up, as mushrooms, in a 
single day; life, liberty, and property insecure; 
the world, become intoxicated upon the blood of 
revenge, reel and stagger as a drunken man, and 
the heavens tremble, mourn, and bleed at every 
pore for a lost race, as they wound their way 
down the hill of Time, like Lucifer's band of lost 
angels, to the gates of Pandemonium. 



150 Scholastic Literature. 

To the moral world, woman wields an incalcula- 
ble influence. To calculate this, is like attempting 
to calculate the stars and planets of the heavens. 
Discoveries have been made, till, with the aid of 
the most powerful magnifying-glass, the mind is 
lost in the enchanting charms of distance. Every 
day gives us some new ideas of educated woman's 
worth, and, should man live through eternity, he 
will not have discovered them all. When edu- 
cated morally, her charms upon the world are like 
those of the sun upon the sunflower — they at- 
tract the world toward her, in whatever part of 
the circle of life she may be found. In the morn- 
ing of life, all look toward her as the beautiful 
flower of innocence, growing from the refreshing 
dews of heaven ; in the meridian of life, all 
look to her as exalted in the moral scale to the 
summit of human attainment ; in the evening of 
life, as she moves to her grave in the decline of 
life, all look toward her as the great moral sun 
passing from their sight; and when locked in the 
silent tomb, the faces of all are turned downward, 
as if searching for the lost light which once illu- 
mined their pathway. How important to the 
world that such light should shine continually! 

The nations that do not encourage female edu- 
cation might be likened to the five foolish virgins : 
they have failed to supply their lamps with oil; 
hence, their lights have gone out, and they are 



Literary Address. 151 

cast into outer darkness, and when the bridegroom 
comes, they are absent in search of oil; but too 
late — their condemnation is already written upon 
the records of Heaven. Those who encourage 
female education might be likened to the five wise 
virgins : they keep with them a bountiful supply 
of oil, and their lamps are always trimmed and 
burning, and when the bridegroom conies, they go 
with him, as of his flock. In those nations dwell 
the soldiers of Christ, who bear the ark of the 
covenant in the battle-field of God. Here the 
Bible lies upon the table of every family; peace, 
happiness, and tranquillity dwell as national gods ; 
the tides of morality move in every direction; 
prosperity dwells in every chimney-corner; ad- 
versity dwindles to insignificance, and the bounti- 
ful fields of Nature teem with rich productions. 

The firmness and moral intellect of Madame 
Caberas, while a prisoner awaiting the order of 
her execution, aroused the eloquence of Tallien, 
beneath the powers of which the ruthless Robes- 
pierre quailed and sank, and the Reign of Terror 
ended in France. It was the educated mind of 
Isabella, Queen of Spain, that enabled her to see 
the reason of Columbus's plan to discover Amer- 
ica; hence, she became the great first cause of the 
discovery of America. Providence seems to have 
intended woman as the master of whatever she 
undertook, and it is as hard to mount the stars on 



152 Scholastic Literature. 

a tread-wheel as to change her course. Then how 
important for the world that her mind be properly 
directed! If I designed conquering Satan and 
all his followers, I would first give woman's mind 
a moral inclination, were it in my power. Then 
I might, Alexander-like, sweep down all opposi- 
tion in this world, and weep because there were 
not bridges to all other worlds to extend my 
conquest. 

A well-cultivated mind is a never-failing pass- 
port to the best society. It always insures the 
extension of friendship, when accompanied by 
correctness of conduct and a virtuous deportment. 
It prevents woman from becoming the dupe of 
artifice, and expands the heart to all sympathetic 
feelings for the distress of others. It holds up 
to a distinct and scrutinizing search the character 
of man, and enables woman to make a judicious 
choice from a herd of coxcombs and fools, by 
whom, if wealthy and beautiful, she may be pei- 
secuted with addresses. It affords a never-failing 
source of comfort in solitude, and finds a healing 
balm for a wayward and unfortunate destiny, and 
so well arranges her actions and feelings as never 
to allow her to become the victim of a broken 
heart. She sees objects as they really are, and 
not as if clothed in an inflamed and disordered 
fancy. She knows human nature is not perfect, 
but regards it as a compound of weakness and 



Literary Address. 158 

strength, virtue and vice, and wisdom and folly. 
It was the cultivated mind of Miss Owenson that 
attached Lord Morgan to her, and she became the 
companion of his bosom. Mrs. Hamilton was the 
admired of the world, and wrote much on female 
education. She seems to bend the world at her 
will, sways scepters, unflinchingly faces the with- 
ering blasts of persecution, smiles upon death, 
bathes the altars of God in the tears of penitence, 
calms the tides of passion, breathes into society 
the soul-stirring notes of love and affection, and 
openly confesses her Saviour, though death may 
gaze in her face. As the poet declares : 

"Not she with traitorous kiss her Saviour stung, 
Not she denied him with unholy tongue; 
But she. when apostles shrank, could dangers brave; 
Last at the cross, and first at the grave." 

Moral education has shed its nourishment and 
bountiful supplies upon the world, as the manna 
that fell from the heavens to feed the children of 
Israel in the wilderness. God tells us we shall 
not live upon bread alone, but upon every word 
that proceedeth out of his mouth. how sweet 
the calm tidings of love and joy play from heaven 
upon the hills of Sinai and Calvary ! How pleasant 
and contented the righteous can repose through 
the darkness of the night! Even the pillow upon 

which the head reclines appears delightful. It is 

7* 



154 Scholastic Literature. 

this grand and noble principle that buried the 
tomahawk, and planted the tree of peace upon its 
grave; that has sheathed the sword, and hushed 
the muttering cannon; that moves from post to 
pillar as a ministering angel of peace. 

Moral education not only means teaching by 
precept, but also by example. Too often are we 
willing to tell others how to do, but we do not do 
that way ourselves. God tells us we must know 
man's faith by his works. Hypocrites clamor 
loudly in public places — they pray upon the 
house-tops and corners of the streets, but never 
retire to the closet; on the contrary, are profane 
and cruel in the family circle and daily labors; 
disguise themselves in the cloak of God, to cheat, 
swindle, and defraud their neighbors; they lose 
sight of the Golden Rule, and travel as the vile 
reptile upon the ground, spitting their venom in 
every direction. This class of persons are wholly 
and totally destitute of moral education; for, as I 
have before told you, moral education means draw- 
ing out, developing, and increasing the moral facul- 
ties. Hence, as these faculties are increased, the 
whole inward and outward man is improved. 
There is no such thing as galvanized morality. 
Under its true head it admits of no deception; 
for although man may defraud the world, he can- 
not defraud God. The desire to defraud is the 
want of moral training. God is omnipotent, om- 



Literary Address. 155 

nipresent, and omniscient — Alpha and Omega — 
one and the same — inseparable and unchangeable. 
Not a sparrow falls to the ground — not a hair of 
your head, but that he has numbered it. The 
earth is his, and the fullness thereof. It is from 
him we receive our life, the food that strengthens 
our body, the pure air that we inhale into our 
lungs, the refreshing draughts of cool water that 
quench our thirst in midsummer, and, in a word, 
our whole existence. How vain and foolish, then, 
to suppose man could deceive the One who molded 
him into existence ! It was David's moral train- 
ing that gave him faith in God, and enabled him, 
with his pebble and sling, to slaughter Goliath 
and put the Philistines to flight; and Samsons 
moral training gave him faith, which enabled him 
to drag the pillars from the house, and slaughter 
his thousands; Joshua's gave him faith, and en- 
abled him to stop the sun and moon till he could 
complete his victory; Washington's gave him 
faith in his cause, and led him safely through the 
Revolution. In fact, it is this training that gives 
us all our faith in God; and Holy Writ tells us 
faith removes mountains. It gave the angels faith 
that sang together in praise of God, on the morn- 
ing of the world's completion, and filled the whole 
heavens with sweet melodies. It called the an- 
gels from heaven to earth on the morning of 
Christ's resurrection, and caused them to sing the 



156 Scholastic Literature. 

sweet songs that melted the skies in harmonious 
vibrations, as they passed from earth to heaven. 
It enkindled in David the lovely poetical notes 
that enriched the Bible with the Book of Psalms. 
Ever since the creation of the world, evil and 
good have been great contending powers; they 
have met in every corner, upon every hill-top, and 
in every valley. The struggle has been mighty 
and powerful, and millions have fallen upon the 
battle-field. The soldiers of good are commanded 
by the teachers of morality; the soldiers of evil 
by the devil and his cohorts. Although the few 
have fought the many, God is at their head, and 
they must prevail in the end, when joy will un- 
furl its banners in the pure, celestial breeze, and 
shouts of victory melt the heavens into songs of 
peace, happiness, and love; and the soul — the un- 
dying principle unchained from the physical man 
— poetically expressed : 

" The soul on earth is an immortal guest, 
Compelled to starve at an unusual feast; 
A spark which upward tends by Nature's voice — 
A stream diverted from its natural source — 
A drop dissevered from the boundless sea — 
A moment parted from eternity — 
A pilgrim panting for the rest to come — 
An exile anxious for his native home." 



Literary Address. 157 



LITERARY ADDRESS. 

BY WILLIAM N. COWDEN. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : — Before proceeding to 
the discharge of the duty devolving upon me on 
this occasion, I desire to tender to the principal and 
students of this Institute my sincere thanks for 
the honor done me in calling me from so many, 
who are my superiors in scientific and literary 
lore, to represent them and the cause for which 
they work at this their first Annual Commencement. 
We trust we may not disappoint your high hopes 
in this our first educational address. It is with 
considerable embarrassment that Ave attempt to 
address you upon the theme that has called you 
together on this occasion. In days gone by, other 
tongues, more gifted and learned than my own, 
have led you captive amid cooler shades of the 
bowers of mind's pure thought than we can hope 
to find; nevertheless, if you will give us your at- 
tention, if we cannot lead you to the Pierian 
spring, we hope to find some shaded nook in the 
field of thought, whence issues a clear, crystal 



158 Scholastic Literature. 

brook, the glassy surface of which we hope to 
break by human thought. 

In perambulating the field of thought upon this 
subject, we assure you there is no danger of being 
lost, for, if we can do no better, we have but to 
return to the broad and well-beaten track, with its 
blazing directories, called Physical, Mental, and 
Moral, and conduct you through by their unerring 
calls. Education, the theme of themes, the pal- 
ladium of all thought, the sub-basis of all action, 
the foundation-proposition of all happiness, with 
its humanizing, civilizing, and Christianizing in- 
fluences, is the all-absorbing and engrossing sub- 
ject that on this occasion demands and commands 
your attention. 

Since man stooped to the vulture of sin, heark- 
ened to the deceitful eloquence of satanic flat- 
tery, and thoughtlessly, recklessly, and without a 
single demur, touched the alluring but fatal fruit, 
we have been doomed to come forth amid the 
thorns and thistles of earth with mere instinctive 
appetites, without a single desire to know our or- 
igin, mission, or destiny. That which ameliorates 
this passive condition, that which draws out the 
human soul to a proper estimate of its own divine 
origin and lofty purpose, and polishes it for a bliss- 
ful destiny, is true education ; and, my friends, 
all else is false education, all else is waging war 
with the laws of mind. Some say education is 



Literary Address. 159 

the improvement of the mind; but, my friends, 
this definition is too vague to admit of a sensible 
solution — too much depends upon what is meant 
by mind and improvement. Such a theory makes 
the mind a machine — a mere tool, to be used in 
the daily avocations of life; and such a theory 
would vary according to the purpose we wished 
our education to serve. The clergyman, the physi- 
cian, the farmer, the mechanic, and the lawyer, 
would have each a theory of education, differing as 
the purposes to which the machine was applied 
differed. Others say education is the knowledge 
of literature, science, and art. To impart this 
knowledge is partly the office and purpose of edu- 
cation ; but it is too limited a sphere, too circum- 
scribed a mission, for the great work we are con- 
templating and collating. What if you could 
write and pronounce the word "soul" in every 
language, ancient and modern, living and dead, 
from the alphabet of Cadmus down to the Belles- 
lettres of this age, and, at the same time, know 
nothing of its divine origin, its undying attributes, 
or eternal destiny — what if you could write, 
speak, grammatize, rhetorize, transpose, and re- 
transpose the sentence, "God is love," into every 
language, from the Chaldaic hieroglyphic orig- 
inals to the most modern tongues now spoken, 
and yet know nothing of that great Source of love 
— could not see it in every blossom that blooms, 



160 Scholastic Literature, 

and feel it in every shower that falls-— what ad- 
vantage would be your education? With a be- 
nighted soul and desolate heart, you would wander 
over earth, a literary fool. You had as well under- 
take to describe a circle without a center, a rose- 
bud without a petal, the pupil of the eye without 
the eye, the finger without the hand, the hand 
without the arm, the arm without the body, and 
the body without the soul, as to define education 
without recognizing the central truth we have as- 
sumed. 

Then let us invite you into the studio of the 
grand Workman that is to polish a soul; let us 
lead you into the precincts of means that are de- 
signed for the wonderful work. The Great first 
cause is the radiating center, and the Great last 
end the periphery of all correct thought, all correct 
education. Between these grand points can be 
found the vital tenants and correct philosophy of 
all true sciences, known or knowable, theoretical 
or practical, discovered or discoverable. And 
when we use the word "science," we intend its 
broad and comprehensive meaning. Any thing 
that is the subject of the thinking, reasoning, con- 
templating, or discoursing of the human mind, 
may be converted into a science; and a true 
science is the correct exercise of the mind upon 
any given subject, and they begin with the Great 
first cause, and suggest the Great last end. Like 



Literary Address. 161 

the grand ethereal rainbow that arches the universe, 
there is not a shadow of night that darkens their 
triumphal arch ; and as its gold and purple colors 
blend and run together, so do all true sciences 
blend their tenants. Their difference is in grada- 
tion, and not in distinct, prominent lines of de- 
markation. Take astronomy, that science which 
takes the vast, innumerable worlds, and masses of 
matter spread out through the immensity of space, 
with the laws of their actions, for its treatise, and 
attempt to teach or learn it without the assistance 
of, or any reference to, geometry, geology, chemis- 
try, trigonometry, mensuration, surveying, navi- 
gation, or some other true science, and you will 
find that you are attempting to teach or learn a 
perfect abstraction, which no human mind can do. 
Take metaphysics, that boldest and most inde- 
pendent science, that refuses to be confined to the 
material universe, but in its daring flight presumes 
to speculate on time, space, and eternity — on mind, 
spirit, and matter — on things celestial and things 
terrestrial — and you will see that it is intimately 
connected with all other true sciences. Take 
geology, and you will find that you cannot pro- 
ceed a step in the investigation of its fundamental 
principles without the assistance of chemistry, 
mineralogy, and zoology, and you cannot proceed 
to a perfect knowledge without the assistance of 
all other true sciences. So it is with all true 



162 Scholastic Literature, 

sciences. They are so intimately connected that 
no human mind, however gifted and learned, can 
learn or demonstrate one without the assistance of 
one or more of the others ; and when we say 
" demonstrate," we do not use it in the sense in 
which we use it when we speak of demonstrating 
a problem in Euclid, or a proposition in Bourdon, 
but in its broad and comprehensive sense, as ap- 
plied to that scientific research which traces a 
science from its cause to its final effect. We must 
not only learn that the Great first cause is the ra- 
diating center, and the Great last end the periphery 
of all correct thought, and that all sciences, known 
or knowable by finite minds, are linked together 
by infinite tenets from that radiating center, but 
we must also learn that those sciences, so linked, 
make one vast universe, suggestive of that begin- 
ning and that termination; we must learn that the 
universe is a grand convocation and concentration 
of means and ends tending to one glorious result 
— the development and preparation of the human 
soul for a blissful abode beyond the thunder's 
home. 

Young ladies, let us rob you of one of those 
rose-buds that blush in so many hands to-day, and 
see if, in that little heart-history that so softly 
breathes tales of first love, from those little gems 
from the garland of Cupid there cannot be learned 
a lesson of science deep and wonderful — see if 



Literary Address. 163 

we cannot glean from it a striking similitude of 
the history and grand design of this vast universe 
of means and ends. Each leaf, from the inmost 
silken petal to that rough green perianth, you will 
see, is perfectly fitted to each other. So perfect 
is the arrangement that, when once they are dis- 
located and disorganized, no human hand, no mat- 
ter if it be guided by the genius of Raphael, can 
perfectly rearrange them. Not only are they 
fitted to each other, but they are so arranged for 
the common purpose of protecting, developing, 
and maturing its central stamina — that little vel- 
vet gem that contains the germ of life that is to 
live after its silken blossom has given back, in 
ecstatic death, its pure, fresh, odorous life to the 
elements from which it came. So with the uni- 
verse : each element, each world, and each system 
is so arranged with reference to each other, as to 
make one perfect whole, moving in accord, with a 
single purpose. The solar system, with its in- 
numerable, sparkling worlds, that roll around the 
sun, presents but a single idea of purpose in their 
creation — that is, they were made for this earth. 
Let vain transcendentalists and speculating skep- 
tics demonstrate, with their fine-spun a priori rea- 
soning, their fantastic theories of creation and de- 
sign, and with their fruitful imagination people 
each planet; but Heaven's first command, that 
won a universe from a void and formless infinite, 



164 Scholastic Literature. 

will forever canonize this elemental truth, while 
lives in that immortal history of creation's morn, 
that august scene, when "the earth was without 
form and void, and darkness was upon the face 
of the deep." When 

"God said, ' Let there be light/ 
Grim darkness felt his might, 

And fled away ; 
Then startled seas and mountains cold 
Shone forth all bright in blue and gold, 

And cried, "Tis day — 'tis day!' 
1 Hail, holy light !' exclaimed 
The thunderous cloud that flamed 

O'er daisies white; 
And lo ! the rose, in crimson dressed, 
Leaned sweetly on the lily's breast, 

And, blushing, murmured, ' Light !' " 

Yea, not a day that comes and goes, nor a night 
that wraps the world in grand and silent gloom, 
but proves that the sun, moon, and stars, and the 
ethereal blue through which they roll, were made 
for earth. 

It is also true, by God's creative law, that 
earth, with its rock-ribbed mountains and everlast- 
ing hills of granite, deep and dense ; with its 
lofty ridges splintered by the storm, and deep 
vales where affrighted shadows make their home; 
with its joyous, gushing springs, that send their 
waters rippling around the mountain's verdant 
sides, and rivers that, in thundering torrents and 



Literary Address. 165 

sweeping surges, rush to the ocean vast and 
wide; the earth, with its winds that bend the 
trembling grass, and start into life the ocean's 
wave, and its clouds, that rise from the cavern's 
depths and evaporating seas, floating spirit-like 
over its mountains, hills, and dales; with its 
hoarse, loud, and deep thunders, that resound 
amid the storm, and its lightning, that tears and 
furrows the mountain's tall pine ; with its glaciers 
of ice, that give back to each glint of sunshine a 
thousand hues, and its tempests, that stir the 
ocean's depths profound; with its shoAvers of 
rain, that swell the bubbling spring and cool the 
burning plain, and its quakes, that shake the 
mountain's firm base, and uproot the leviathan's 
bed; — yea, this terrestrial sphere of God's uni- 
verse, with its heart of fire, its sea of water, and 
its vast, subtile, and profound aerial ocean, within 
the circling tide of which is found the more ma- 
terial parts, was created alone for its animal and 
vegetable productions; and these exist, by God's 
mysterious law, alone for man. Like the dove 
that left the ark that had sheltered it amid the 
deluge of earth, to serve man in a weary flight 
o'er the watery waste, bringing him that olive- 
branch — that token bright of land, and welcome 
sign of a receding flood — does every animal that 
swims in the sea, flies in the air, crawls or walks 
on the earth, live to do its appointed part in the 



166 Scholastic Literature. 

grand design of man's development. So with 
earth's vegetable productions: not a thing that 
grows, nor a blossom that blooms — from the tiny 
moss that covers the earth with its downy bed, 
and hides the icy snake as it passes to its covert 
wold, to the tall pine that tempts the lightning's 
stroke, and serves the eagle a lofty throne — but 
gives its life to this grand design. Turn while 
grim winter holds off his howling blasts and des- 
olating storms ; turn ere summer's dissolving suns 
dry up the verdure of the fields; turn while earth 
wears her emerald robes, and the trees bear their 
fullest foliage; while the wild-rose and sweet- 
scented vine perfume the gentle zephyrs, and the 
clover-blossoms enamel the meadows; while the 
corn spreads its rich verdure over the newly- 
plowed fields, and the earliest apples, streaked 
with gold and rich vermilion, tempt the birds and 
children; while the wheat and barley wave in 
golden ripeness, and breezes kiss buds into bloom, 
and the dew-drops rest on the newly-opened rose; 
turn while the busy bee lingers in the "honey- 
suckle glen," and gathers honey from the suckle, 
and the "speckled trout chases the burnished min- 
now in the clear mountain brook;" while the gay- 
feathered songsters make the forest ring in glad- 
ness with the warbling of their heart - throbbing 
songs, and the cattle and sheep wade the waving 
pastures, and crop the cool herbage; while the 



Literary Address. 167 

light-bounding roe leads her timid, spotted fawn 
to drink from rippling rivers in the cool shade of 
the forest, and the lark woos the sky, and sings 
its anthems to the rising sun; yea, turn while 
earth wears her gayest dress, and tell whence and 
why this busy life. My friends, it is a universe 
at work for man ; 'tis the warm sunshine piercing 
the cold sod, and warming into life the little gems 
that were garnered there by Nature's mysterious 
hand, and with its pencil-ray painting each blos- 
som in its own peculiar hue; 'tis the sea sending 
in clouds its waters to cool and moisten the vege- 
tating earth; 'tis winds and showers awaking the 
earth to a life full of transient beauty and bloom; 
'tis the earth distilling from its moisture juices 
for every vegetable that grows — those gold and 
purple juices that gush so deliciously from the 
orange and melon, and tinge the velvet cheek of 
the peach; 'tis the song of the universe played 
upon a harp, of which each leaf that trembles in 
the wind, and each foam-footed rill that winds its 
way through the tall, waving grass, is a string. 
In triumphant tones this vast instrument is roll- 
ing up, from each department and recess of earth, 
a torrent of majestic sounds. 'Tis Nature's nim- 
ble fingers frolicking over the strings of the harp 
of the universe, from which is gushing and stream- 
ing a shower of melodies and variable harmonies 
that ripple, like laughter, in warbling cadences 



168 Scholastic Literature. 

throughout the chambers of earth and heaven, 
drawing out the echoing harmonies of the soul; 
'tis Nature's benefit-exhibition for poor, fallen man. 
Soon the scene will change. The harvest will 
soon be here, and no sooner has Nature supplied 
the wants of man, than the dissolving suns of 
summer give back to contributing elements their 
respective parts, showing that vegetation springs 
and grows alone for man. But we cannot pursue 
this idea farther. It is too vast and profound for 
an address like this. If every mind that thinks 
could drink from it a thousand years, it would be 
unexhausted. It is as true and profound as in- 
finity, and as inexhaustible as the great Fount of 
all knowledge. Some speak of physical educa- 
tion, which, in an abstract sense, is about as com- 
prehensive as to speak of a mental-physical, a 
full vacuum, or a liquid substance. It can be 
fed, watered, and grown; it can be cultivated, but 
not educated. Plume the mind with swift-winged 
imagination, and travel back, o'er a century of 
Time's mysterious course, to a little cottage in 
the artillery-walks of the great metropolis of old 
Britain, and there behold the illustrious Milton, 
whose heart is touched with imperial fire: hear 
him sing, in his celestial epic, the beauties and 
glories of Creation; see his face upturned to the 
resplendent light of heaven — see it glow with 
divine afflatus, and yet see those sorrowful, sight- 



Literary Address. 169 

less eyes turn vacantly in their sockets, and tell 
me, What is physical education, when it cannot 
smooth the flaw from out the eye of such a 
genius ? Again, on the lightning of speedy 
thought, turn to Beethoven: hear that stream 
of melodies that flow from his fingers, as they 
lightly glide over the keys of the piano; hear 
that sweet cadence, that falls upon the ear like 
the sigh of lovers stealing through the silken 
leaves of roses; see with what amazing ingenuity 
he throws out a shower of notes, that leap upon 
the air like the voice of merriment, and fall upon 
the ear in ravishing sweetness, only equaled by 
the laughter of her whom we best love. Again, 
hear those wild strains that startle the nerves, and 
make the blood curdle, like a tornado sweeping 
through the mountain's trembling forest, or a hur- 
ricane on the deep sea. See how he seems 'to de- 
light in the symphonies that flow from his gigantic 
genius ! Speak to him in a voice of thunder, and 
he heeds not your calling — he is deaf. Then tell 
me, What is physical education, when it cannot 
open the ear to the sound of such wonderful mel- 
odies ? 

My friends, true education is alone the victory 
of Truth, in which Error, with her legions, gives 
up the battle-field of the soul. Education is all 
of life — it is life itself. To live is to think; all 
else is death. But you ask, Where is the text- 
8 



170 Scholastic Literature. 

book of the education of which we speak? Where 
is the true light of the science of man's being, 
and what is to be? Here a sad spectacle meets 
the sight of the student of truth. As many lights 
blaze before him as there are stars in the sky; 
as many systems are presented as there are peb- 
bles on the sea-shore. One fourth of the human 
family lift up the Koran of Mohammed, with its 
spirit of sensuality, as the central sun of man's 
universe, and true theory of the Great first cause. 
Others hold out the flickering mirage of Deism to 
allure the soul into the swamps of desolation and 
ruin; while still others hold out the chanceful 
theory of Atheism as the true science of man's 
being, and what is to be. Mohammedanism, 
Deism, and Atheism is each a central sun of a 
thousand smaller lights, that are each held out as 
thejight of man's true science. Notwithstanding 
this, man has a true science, the light of which 
pierces night and day, time and eternity — sepa- 
rates darkness from light, and penetrates the dark 
shadows of the grave. It is the science of a life 
divine and everlasting. On the dial there are 
many shadows, but all point to one sun. By 
tracing those shadows, you may find the sun. 
So there is but one true science of man, and it is 
the science of sciences — the ontology and de- 
ontology — the being, and what ought to be, of all 
things. 'Tis the science of that 



Literary Address, 171 

"Stupendous whole, 
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul, 
That changed, through all is yet in all the same, 
Great in the earth as in the ethereal frame; 
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees ; 
Lives through all life, extends through all extent, 
Spreads undivided, operates unspent; 
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, 
As full, as perfect in a hair as heart, 
As full, as perfect in vile man that mourns, 
As the rapt seraph that adorns and burns." 

The text-book of this science of sciences, need 
I tell you, is the Book of books — the Bible. "Tis 
the hope of man, individually and collectively, 
theoretically and practically. No man, family, 
tribe, nation, nor empire can survive the sweeping 
surges of time that does not educate upon this 
foundation. Then, if our views are correct, and 
education is not alone the improvement of the 
mind, but the developing, redeeming, and trans- 
forming of the soul from an incomprehensible inac- 
tivity to that sublime, seraphic excellency that is 
to outshine the brightest star that ever blazed in 
the temple of stars, and lighted up the blue ethe- 
real dome of heaven, then, indeed, is it the all-ab- 
sorbing and all-engrossing subject, and should be 
the ruling object in life. If man's development 
is the central idea of all created things, and the 
great Architect of heaven and earth condescended 
to create a universe of which each particle, from 



172 Scholastic Literature. 

the smallest insect to the brightest world, was 
made alone to elucidate the great problem of man's 
being, and what ought to be, then how wonder- 
fully sublime and exalted is the work of educa- 
tion, that subdues every element in Nature, and 
makes it subservient to man! and what an inex- 
haustible blessing, if it tends to that elucidation 
and amelioration ! If not, it is a curse. Man can 
create nothing — can only apply the great redeem- 
ing and transforming powers of that vast universe 
of means and ends to the developing and perfect- 
ing of his immortality. 

"Man makes not — only finds 
All earthly beauty ; catching a thread of sunshine 
Here and there — some shining pebble in the path of duty — 
Some echo of the songs that flood the air." 

It is too much the wretched tendency of the 
education of the present age to prepare alone for 
this life — to crowd all efforts and all calculations 
into the narrow space of this material and terres- 
trial existence. Many suppose that education is 
worth nothing that does not prepare us for a life 
of the flesh ; that all that is necessary is, that we 
know how to write and speak intelligibly, and 
calculate the costs and profits in the daily avoca- 
tions of life; that there is no necessity of exer- 
cising the mind with any matter beyond this. 
This they call a " practical education," and think 
that all else are superfluity and folly. And this, 



Literary Address. 173 

my friends, is the rock upon which the scholarship 
of the age is about to be wrecked. Here is the 
secret of the lamentable dearth of originality. 
'Tis the spot in the sun of the intellectuality of 
the nineteenth century. It is this theory that 
teaches the student to be contented with a super- 
ficial view, and an imperfect idea, of all things, 
and causes him to shrink from the labor of inves- 
tigation and study necessary to a proper education 
of the mind, and it encourages the repugnance of 
our nature to mental labor, feeds our sensuality, 
and fills the great hive of life with stupid drones. 
This theory of education has fostered a humbug- 
gery in America that will be as hard to eradicate 
from the literature and learning of her people as 
it will be to blot out brigandage from Mexico, or 
atheism from France. To-day, this humbuggery 
penetrates and permeates every nook and corner 
of American society, and has turned gifted schol- 
ars into such literary characters as Josh Billings, 
Artemus Ward, Bill Arp, Sut. Lovengood, and a 
host of others, who, discovering the weakness of 
the great American heart, made themselves Lilli- 
puts to please it. 

Surely the malediction of the gifted poet — 

"111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay " — 

is upon the American people to-day. Men of 



174 Scholastic Literature, 

learning and lofty ambition pass to that "bourn 
whence no traveler returns/' "unwept, unhonored, 
and unsung." 

Within the last twelve months, three of the 
brightest stars that ever blazed in the galaxy of 
American scholarship have gone out, and scarcely 
a ripple marked their departure — they scarcely re- 
ceived respectable burial notices. Who in this 
vast crowd can tell to whom I allude ? Yea, how 
many in the broad land of America can tell 
whether Alexander Campbell — that paragon 
scholar whose erudition spread an intellectual glow 
over all subjects that came within the range of 
his mind's lofty thought, and whose scholarship, in 
days gone by, received the highest encomiums from 
both Europe and America — is living or dead? 
How many know that the gifted tongue of that 
oratorical genius, Meredith P. Gentry, the majestic 
notes of which have so often resounded amid the 
hills and valleys of our own beloved Tennessee 
like the clear-ringing notes of an Alpine horn, that 
come bounding on the morning's ambient air, over 
mountains of ice and rivers of frozen glass, is 
stilled by the cold touch of death? How many 
have learned that Edward Everett, whose pure, 
chaste writings did so much to elevate American 
literature, and the loss of whom should have made 
a nation weep, now sleeps beneath the sod? I 
dare say there are but few. But who throughout 



Literary Address. 175 

this broad land has not heard of the death of that 
great American joker, Artemus Ward ? For him 
the crape and willow of mourning droop above the 
door of every cot and palace throughout the land. 
And why? Because journals of all characters 
have for months vied with each other in bright 
eulogiums for their lost hero, and the representa- 
tive man of the fanaticism that has seized the 
American heart. 

It is not my purpose to tear away the white 
folds of the shroud and expose the deformities of 
the bubble of life that has already burst on the 
shores of an endless eternity, farther than to deal 
a blow at that incubus that is crushing out the 
educational interest of the country. This comes 
of educating alone for a life of the flesh. 

Then heavenward lift the spire of thought, and 
spurn the grosser things of earth, remembering, 
"He builds too low who builds beneath the sky." 

Here, as far as the theme is concerned, we might 
close our address; but we desire to make a few 
specific remarks, and we are done. 

To fathers and mothers who hear us we desire 
to say : To you is committed the greatest respon- 
sibility of life — the education of your children. 
If you would have them living, acting, thinking 
men and women, never again speak to them of a 
practical education. If you would have them 
honorable and honored among men, if you would 



176 Scholastic Literature. 

have them reflect a bright luster back upon your 
head, educate them upon the foundation we have 
this day given you. Remember, it is with yon, 
whether your child fills the sublime destiny in- 
tended by its heavenly Father. Remember, that 
it is in youth the man is made. 

" "lis the heart of a boy, 
With its indistinct, passionate prescience of joy ! 
The unproved desire — the unaimed aspiration — 
The deep, conscious life, that forestalls consummation ; 
With ever a flitting delight — one arm's length 
In advance of th' august inward impulse. The strength 
Of the spirit which troubles the seed in the sand 
With the birth of the palm-tree ! Let ages expand 
The glorious creature ! The ages lie shut 
(Safe, see !) in the seed, at Time's signal to put 
Forth their beauty and power, leaf by leaf, layer on layer, 
Till the palm strikes the sun, and stands broad in blue air. 
So the palm in the palm-seed ! so, slowly — so, wrought 
Year by year unperceived, hope on hope, thought by 

thought, 
Trace the growth of the man from its germ in the boy." 

Remember that — 

"While the leaf's in the bud, while the stem's in the green, 
A light bird bends the branch, a light breeze breaks the 

bough, 
Which, if spared by the light breeze, the light bird, may 

grow 
To baffle the tempest, and rock the high nest, 
And take both the bird and the breeze to its breast. 



Literary Address, 177 

Shall we save a whole forest in sparing one seed? 

Save the man in the boy? in the thought save the deed? 

Let the whirlwind uproot the grown tree, if it can ! 

Save the seed from the north wind. So let the grown man 

Face out fate. Spare the man-seed in youth." 

Yes, it is the province of parents to protect this 
"man-seed," "this unarmed aspiration," in youth, 
from the whirlwinds of passion, and develop the 
mind of the man by garnered thoughts on thoughts, 
hopes on hopes, until it comprehends the myste- 
ries of its own ontology and deontology. 

To the students of this institution we have 
this to say, that your deportment on this occasion 
needs no compliment from us. It speaks a higher 
encomium for the efforts of your teachers and 
yourselves than the most gifted tongue could pro- 
nounce. But do not conclude that you have 
reached the goal of your ability or the extent of 
your duty. Remember that your scholastic edu- 
cation is a preparatory step to enable you to study 
more efficiently in God's university. Remember 
that you have but found the beginning corner in 
the grand survey of everlasting wisdom. Learn, 
and forever keep the lesson before you, that we 
have this day attempted to impress, that life was 
not given that we might eat, frolic, dance, and 
die, but that we might reign and triumph in im- 
mortal youth, bloom and fructify in a paradise of 
perpetual spring beyond the stars. 
8* 



178 Scholastic Literature, 

Then let all learn to — 

"Measure life by truth and goodness, 

Not by passion, folly, fears ; 
Measure life by deeds accomplished, 

Not by idle, empty years. 
He lives longest, (not in story,) 

However young or old, 
Who has massive deeds of glory 

On his inmost being scrolled. 
Measure life by spirit-measure, 

Power of feeling, gift of thought, 
Lifting heavenward all earth's treasure, 

Outer into inner wrought, 
Still transmuting all the grosser 

Into life's sublimer traits, 
While the soul is drawing closer 

To the open golden gates." 



II. DEPARTMENT OF 1867-8. 



SCHOLASTIC LITERATURE. 



KNOW THYSELF. 

BY W. A. DARNALL. 

Reader, it is not my intention, in this address, 
to lead yon off upon the fancied wings of elo- 
quence, or affect your minds by a display of rhe- 
torical flights ; but merely to direct your minds to 
a state of facts, and, by the way, to cast my 
mite, however small it may be, into the treasury 
of intellectual improvement. 

Notwithstanding the theme is short, yet there 
is concealed within it the whole of man's duties 
as a transient being. Man is styled the noblest 
work of his Creator; formed with an upright 
stature, endowed with reason, and made the sole 
ruler of all animal creation. When we consider 
man as a physical being, his organization is a 
most wonderful display of the power of the Deity. 
The adaptation of his various members to the 
wants and conveniences of his well-being strikes 

(181) 



182 /Scholastic Literature. 

the mind with profound admiration and astonish- 
ment. The obedience of every nerve to the liv- 
ing principles within, is a connecting link that has 
baffled the skill and ingenuity of the anatomist 
and physiologist. As to the knowledge we have 
of our bodies, we know we are short-lived, short- 
sighted, and poor, puny worms of the dust, like 
the mushroom, which springs up at night, and its 
prosperous career is blighted by a few scorching 
and coruscating suns. Our duration is signifi- 
cantly expressed by Job : " Man that is born of 
woman is of few days, and full of trouble." 

Then, in view of the brevity of life, what anx- 
ious thoughts should engage our minds — what 
industry should be practiced in attaining that 
knowledge of ourselves which we should have! 
It is almost impossible to solve the intellectual 
powers of the mind. Behold the mighty genius 
of a Franklin, in snatching the red lightning from 
the heavens, and making it subserve the transmis- 
sion of thought! As a result of his discovery, 
the New World can transmit the news of the dav 
to the Old World in the twinkling of an eye. 
And we are enveloped in a mantle of wonder and 
surprise when we reflect upon the great universal 
law of gravitation, explained by Sir Isaac New- 
ton. Yea, when we behold the broad canopy of 
heaven, dotted with almost innumerable worlds 
and shining orbs, we are led away in ecstasy and 



Know Thyself, 183 

delight. And even the great mental powers of 
man can, almost to a correctness, calculate the dis- 
tances between orbs, stars, and worlds, thousands 
of miles distant from our earth, and the relative 
influences they have on each other. And we 
turn our eyes back on this little speck of creation 
on which we live, and we see that man's ventur- 
ous and daring powers of mind have caused him 
to penetrate even the darkest caverns of earth, 
and tell definitely the very constituents of which 
it is composed. But man, as a moral being, also 
possesses wonderful abilities. Notwithstanding 
his fall, his waywardness, his sinfulness, he has 
never yet been so depraved but that there was 
some faint, glimmering idea of a Supreme Being. 
The worshiping of idols by heathen nations is, 
we think, sufficient evidence on this subject. As 
savage and barbarous as the North American In- 
dians are regarded, they entertain some idea of 
a Supreme Being, and, like the ancient Jews, offer 
their first-fruits to the Superior One. They have 
their green -corn dances as memorials of their 
thankfulness to that Great Spirit whom they re- 
gard as the Bestower of all blessings upon them 
and their children. This is very nicely repre- 
sented by the poet: 

" Poor Indian, with untutored mind, 
Sees God in the clouds, and hears him in the wind ; 



184 Scholastic Literature. 

Whose proud soul was never taught to stray 

Far out on the solar walks or milky way. 

But yet simple nature to his hope has given, 

Behind the cloud-topped hills, an humbler heaven — 

A safer world, in depth of woods embraced, 

A happier island in the watery waste ; 

Where servants their masters no longer behold, 

Where Christians do not thirst for gold ; 

And think, if admitted to that equal sky, 

Perchance their dog will bear them company." 

There is respect shown to morality by the most 
wretched and base of Adam's fallen race. The 
moral man has an influence in the midst of society 
in which he lives. Man, without the proper train- 
ing of mind, becomes subject to his baser passions, 
no better than the dumb brute that grazes in the 
meadow; he drags out a life of ignominy and 
shame, a drone in the community in which he 
lives. But let a man, whose mind the genial rays 
of science has penetrated, be sunk beneath the 
healing streams that flow from the hill of science ; 
let the gloomy clouds of ignorance be dispelled 
from his benighted intellect; let the living princi- 
ples of man rise and burst the chain that binds 
him in total darkness, and partake of freedom, 
and the mind can then soar aloft amid other worlds 
and spheres — can mount the topmost round of 
fame's eternal ladder, and there revel and bask 
amid the never-failing pleasures that science gives, 
and gaze upon the wonderful achievements of in- 



Know Thyself. 185 

tellect, and cast an eye of disdain down upon the 
former prison-house of ignorance, and invite others 
to climb up the rugged ascent, and pluck the bright 
laurels that lie around its ambrosial top. 

The culture of the mind is the very extract or 
essence of the soul. It is that mighty fountain 
which must water every part of the social garden, 
or its beauty withers and fades away. This is the 
single avenue, straight and narrow at first, but 
gradually widening, which all must travel who 
would desire to arrive to usefulness and prosperity. 
Its one single portal stands unbarred for the 
mighty company of emulous youths, bustling along 
in life's scenes. There is room for all; and when 
they have entered in, a thousand doors fly open 
before them, leading out to every hall of prosperity 
and virtuous fame. It is, next to religion, the 
source from which must flow out the issues of 
peace to our firesides of activity, and enlightened 
enterprise to our places of business. It is the 
elemental fire which must lighten, warm, and cheer 
us as men and as citizens. Quench the flames of 
education, and though we should light up our 
streets, like Milton's Pandemonium — 

" With many a row 
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed 
With naphtha and asphaltus, yielding light 
As from a sky, till midnight 
Outshone the noonday sun" — 



186 Scholastic Literature. 

our feet would still stumble on the dark mountains 
of ignorance, as black as death. 

Education is the means of knowing ourselves. 
When we feed that lamp, we perform our highest 
social duty. If we quench it, "I know not where 
that Promethean heat that can its light relume." 



What People go io Church for, 187 



WHAT PEOPLE GO TO CHURCH FOR. 

BY MITTIE EWING. 

To undertake in one composition to give you the 
multiplied reasons which prompt every individual 
church-goer, would make it of such length that it 
would weary you beyond measure. Why, it would 
not only make too long a composition, but would 
fill books ; so I will only undertake to give you 
but a few cases. The promptings are so many, I 
don't know with which to commence. I believe 
there are many who go to church with pure mo- 
tives, who feel somewhat as the Psalmist felt when 
he uttered the words : " I had rather be a door- 
keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in 
the tents of wickedness ;" go in order that they 
may worship the Divine Being, that there before 
him they may confess their misgivings, and feel 
that they have his smiles resting upon them. And 
there may be a few who go to learn the way of 
life ; but from my observation, I would think that 
a large majority go to see and be seen. In proof, 
you will not unfrequently see some who come to 



188 Scholastic Literature. 

church very late, go forward and take the front 
seats, (not in order to be near the preacher, but 
that they may be seen walking the aisle.) Others 
get there sooner, and they take the back seats, to 
see. I believe the latter class to be worse than 
the first — for this reason: they have more room 
to talk, are not so much crow T ded by the first class 
mentioned, (the good, for they you certainly will 
see near the preacher — there is where they should 
be.) Those who go to see (if you will but notice 
them) are not so well-behaved in church as those 
who go to be seen; for these, taking the front 
seats, cannot engage in chit-chat, as those who sit 
back. 

Now, it is really amusing to see and hear those 
who go to see. Sit near two young ladies of this 
class, and you will hear and see much — something 
like the following : "Just look over yonder! Did 
you ever see such a bonnet in your life? Why, 
ain't it the funniest thing you ever saw — got green 
ribbon and pink flowers on it ! I do wonder who 
fixed it up in that style ! Did you ever hear such 
singing? How grating! La! hasn't Miss M. got 
the prettiest hat you ever saw? I do wonder 
where she got it ! I do expect it cost five dollars ! 
me! it's so warm! Loan me your fan. That 
preacher I believe will pray an hour ! I do get so 
tired of such long prayers ! [I say, no wonder.] 
See, yonder 's Mr. H. ! Isn't he a nice young 



What People go to Church for. 189 

man? He dresses so nice and fine ! Look what 
pretty soft hair! Had you heard that he is going 
to see Miss C? I believe they will marry; she 
loves him; and if they don't marry, it won't be 
her fault! Dear me! how can I stand it to sit 
here and listen to Mr. B.? he preaches so long, 
and it is so uninteresting to me ! Wish he wouldn't 
preach so long! Yonder is Mrs. S. ! Look how 
gay she is! She must be certainly setting out 
again ! Ain't it strange ? Why, la me ! her hus- 
band hasn't been dead more than two, three, four, 
five, or six months! Who ever heard of the like? 
Were you at the party last night? we had 
such a nice time! Mr. T. was there. He is so 
nice! wonder he doesn't marry! I caught Mr.W. 
for a beau! Ain't he a nice man? talks so affec- 
tionately ! I am getting very tired ! Do wish he 
would quit preaching and dismiss us! I think I 
will catch Mr. 0. for gallant! Who came with 

VOUi 

Most of the young men, from appearance, go to 
church for the same reasons that the young ladies 
go. They most generally take the back seats, in 
order that they may see — see all the girls who 
may chance to come in. None can escape their 
notice or remarks. I cannot give you a detail of 
their much talk, even while services are going on, 
for I think it good manners not to get near enough 
to hear, lest they might think I was over-anxious 



190 Scholastic Literature. 

to sit near them. One thing you will be certain 
to notice : they soon get out of the house, in order 
to see and make remarks about the ladies, etc. 
Others go to talk about crops, politics, etc. So 
you see there are various reasons why people go 
to church. 



All is not Gold that Glitters. 191 



ALL IS NOT GOLD THAT GLITTERS. 

BY GEOKGIA COOK. 

If we were to suppose for a moment that every 
thing was real, there would not be those checkered 
scenes in life that we actually behold. The world 
has been a thousand times deceived by false ap- 
pearances. The youthful aspirant seems to look 
upon the bright side of the picture. The young 
seem to think that, though the pathway of their 
ancestors has been marked by changes and misfor- 
tunes in life, yet the sun of peace and quietude 
will spread his golden beams far and wide, and 
dispel every rising gloom, and scatter every threat- 
ening cloud from their pathway. But the same 
thorny pathway stretches out before the young 
that this way-w T orn traveler has passed over; and 
although the young are often warned of the bar- 
riers that lie in the road, yet, blinded by their 
own self-sufficiency to stem the torrent, they rush 
on, in many instances, into the vortex of ruin. 
Such are the descriptions of life. Many are de- 
ceived by plated galvanism. The outside presents 



192 Scholastic Literature. 

the appearance of gold, but only surface deep ; it 
bears the wear of time but a little while; its 
golden surface will not stand the test ; the impure 
metal will soon begin to show itself. Then we 
should remember that all is not gold that glitters. 
The human family are too easily imposed upon by 
false appearances. The only sure test of things 
is to try their real value, not estimated by ap- 
pearances, but, indeed, the crucible must be used 
to separate the dross from the pure metal; and we 
generally estimate the value of any thing from the 
demand for it, and the demand for it depends upon 
the value of such things in the exchange it ac- 
complishes for other things. 

We think the caption of this essay is made ap- 
plicable in the appearance of the people in the 
world, as well as to the metals and other things. 
Let us look over fashionable assemblies. Look, 
yonder, at that young gentleman sitting erect, 
with his gold-headed cane whirling in his fingers. 
Just take a close look at his neatly-trimmed and 
blackened mustache; look at his erect collar; 
look at his dress from head to foot; look at his 
black kid gloves and his cloth gaiters; look at his 
jingling watch-chain. 0! is he not a nice fellow? 
But look farther into his history. The merchants 
and tailors are constantly dunning for pay for his 
goods and their making. The hotel-keeper and 
livery-stable man are constantly after him for bills 



All is not Gold that Glitters. 193 

of board and buggy hire. Now his appearance is 
glittering, but what does he do for a subsistence ? 
He walks round the streets, salutes particularly 
all of his own sort, lounging on the boxes at the 
corners of the streets, puffs his costly cigars, and 
just keeps the town, for which he gets no pay. 
Beware, ye silly girls, of such a galvanized young 
man as this ! He will pretend he loves you, but 
he loves you because he thinks your parents have 
lands, money, and other necessary things upon 
which he could still protect his galvanism. Be- 
ware, I repeat, of that young man who is not 
employing his time in honest labor, or engaged in 
storing his mind with knowledge ! He is like the 
winged day-dream that floats in the morning 
breezes, but soon is gone. The trials of life are 
too hard for him to endure. Remember that all 
is not gold that glitters. 
9 



194 Scholastic Literature. 



FASHIONABLE FOLLIES. 

BY JOSIE McADAMS. 

I hope you will not think me presumptuous for 
mentioning a few of the abominable fashions of 
the nineteenth century; and I regret very much 
that the space allowed me is not of sufficient 
length for me to mention some of the ladies' fol- 
lies, as well as the gentlemen's ; but theirs being 
so numerous, we will pass over them. First, we 
would like to know of young Hopeful if he can 
show any good reason for cultivating such a su- 
perb mustache. We will admit that it makes you 
look like a "Yankee;" but do you not resemble 
the brute creation enough already? You look 
surprisingly sweet immediately after having taken 
a sup of milk — and so does "Tom," the cat, or 
the little pig, which know no better. Next, we 
would like to know if there is any good sense in 
keeping your mouth always full of tobacco. Little 
boys chew it because it looks "mannish," and you 
cannot show as good a reason as the little boy. 
You are not at ease without it, if you are an in- 



Fashionable Follies. 195 

veterate chewer — and you are bound to become 
one, if you chew much. Did you know you re- 
minded one, oftentimes, of the cow chewing her 
cud? Perhaps you borrowed the idea from her, 
as man is constantly imitating something. Not 
feeling at ease in company without your hobby, 
you steal a chew, and either have to swallow the 
juice, or spit it out. If you swallow it, it will 
be detrimental to your health; and if you spit it 
out, you will injure the fine carpet, or some piece 
of furniture, and then the lady of the house feels 
like ordering you off. You can quit the abomin- 
able practice, if you will; and why not do so? 
It is very fashionable — in fact, one can hardly re- 
main in company unless he can round off his sen- 
tences with an oath, for the sake of emphasis. 
This is a very deplorable fault, and it is to be 
hoped that, when young gentlemen reflect that no 
one but lackeys and hostlers use such language, 
they will quit. If you are going to be a gentle- 
man, act like one; and if a hostler, adopt their 
customs. 

We would like to call your attention to another 
defect — one which is destructive to morals. It 
is too prevalent in our midst, and too common to 
all fashionable young men. Would you like to 
know this horrid monster — one which every hon- 
est man should shun as he would a venomous rep- 
tile ? It is gambling. It has been often said by 



196 Scholastic Literature. 

novelists and sentimental people, (and there is 
some truth in it,) that such and such men were 
made gamblers by being "crossed in love," or 
by making an unhappy marriage, and the poor 
fellows seel? to forget their grief at the gambling- 
table; and they go on sympathizing with the un- 
fortunate, and reviling the cold-hearted woman for 
treating them so badly, at such a length, that the 
superficial portion of the world are ready to cry 
out in one voice against the horrid crime the poor 
woman has committed. Now, if novelists and 
sentimental people would stop and think, their 
common sense would easily show them their blind- 
ness, and the unfortunate man's weakness. It 
would tell them that, in this country, a woman 
could not marry everybody, and that the laws of 
the land guaranteed to her the privilege of marry- 
ing whomsoever she chose — provided always that 
the other party is willing. After having visited 
her awhile, you fall in love with her, and because 
she cannot fancy, and consequently cannot marry 
you, you call her a false and hard-hearted coquette. 
If she is truly a coquette, you should give thanks 
to God for delivering you from such a creature, 
and not go off and try to destroy yourself, and 
other people, by drinking and gambling, for hav- 
ing got rid of an evil. If you wish excitement, 
-go into business, or go to killing rats — for killing 
rats is a more praiseworthy and honorable em- 



Fashionable Follies. 197 

ployment than gambling. Young gentlemen, you 
should all be men of business, anyhow, for idle- 
ness engenders misery and bad habits. You never 
saw nor heard of a man making a stir in the world 
who had idleness for his employment. You may 
follow fashion as far as it is consistent with rea- 
son, but no farther. Common sense bids you stop 
at this point. 



198 Scholastic Literature. 



WE ARE PASSING AWAY. 

BY JULIA REED. 

How true, how solemn and impressive is my 
theme! The thought of it thrills the human 
heart with mingled emotions of hope and sorrow. 
Life is like a railroad train, which, after passing 
the depots of its brief time, enters into the great 
terminus of eternity. All earthly things must 
change and pass away. The countless millions of 
animal life, from man, the noblest, down to the 
most insignificant insect, have comparatively but 
a brief time upon earth. They disappear by that 
inevitable law of passing away,- to give place, in 
the order of Nature's laws, to a countless host of 
successors, who, in their turn, likewise slide into 
the undiscovered bosom of the past, soon to fade 
from fond memory's view in the ever-reviving and 
sure -returning vicissitudes of passing time, into 
the great ocean of eternity. 

"Passing away" is indelibly written on every 
tree, flower, and herb, and on the brow of every 



We are Passing Away, 199 

human being. I have often contemplated the har- 
mony and gradual change of the seasons. When 
charmed with all the mantling verdure and floral 
beauty of the spring and summer, my sensations 
of pleasure are inoculated with emotions of pain 
and sorrow at the thought of the inevitable truth 
that in autumn and winter all these beautiful flow- 
ers will have passed away, to give place to other 
pains and pleasures connected with the grand and 
melancholy scenes of winter. The birds have 
hushed their songs, and all is silence; the flowers 
have faded and passed away; and where are the 
noble youths that, not many springs ago, were 
making bright many a hearthstone — noble youths 
who filled their father's heart with pride as he 
thought of the coming years of their greatness 
and usefulness — loving sons who made their fond 
mother's eyes to glisten with delight as they 
talked of the bright future that would crown the 
fulfillment of the hopes they had pictured for 
them in their years of infancy? Gone! They 
have passed away — faded like the flowers of the 
past spring, and their voices are hushed forever. 
And where is that beautiful school-girl — one of 
the fairest flowers of earth — who only a few 
months ago brightened our school-room, and made 
glad our hearts by her charming presence? We 
meet, but we miss her. Her seat is vacant ; we 
may linger to caress her, but she will meet us 



200 Scholastic Literature. 

here no more. She has passed away — a lovely 
flower, which budded on earth, and bloomed in 
heaven. Where are our mothers who watched 
over us from our infancy, whose memory we rev- 
erently and fondly cherish, and who loved us with 
that love which none but a mother can give? 
Alas ! she is gone. And where are those fathers 
whose locks were silvered with the frosts of many 
winters, who counseled us in early childhood, pro- 
vided for us when we could not provide for our- 
selves, whose presence was ever welcome, and 
who prayed for us around the family altar night 
and morning? They, too, have passed away. 
Where are those great men, Washington, Adams, 
Jackson, Benton, Webster, Clay, and others? 
They have passed away. The places that have 
known them will know them no more forever. 
Their places are vacated; the sod rests upon their 
once active forms, now cold and lifeless as itself; 
and we, the living, are filled with gloom and deso- 
lation. 

But the world rolls on; Nature does not lose 
its charms; the sun rises with undiminished splen- 
dor; the grass charms us w T ith its newly-born 
freshness every spring, and the flowers do not 
cease to fill the air with fragrance. And must all 
these pass away? Yea, verily! And as we are 
now, so once were our fathers, mothers, brothers, 
and sisters; and as they are now, so we all soon 



We are Passing Away. 201 

must be. I have often, during a clear and cloud- 
less night, sat and gazed at the moon and the 
starry heavenly host of the sky, as they shed 
their pale and tranquil light on this earth of ours, 
and asked myself the question, if all these hea- 
venly bodies looked now as they did when God 
rested from all his work, and "the morning stars 
sang together, and the sons of God shouted for 
joy;" when the "star of Bethlehem" guided the 
wise men of the East to the obscure stable wherein 
the infant Saviour lay ; or when Sennacherib, with 
his Assyrian host, was smitten by the angel of 
the Lord, whilst the moon and stars shone brightly 
on blue Galilee. I suppose they look now as they 
did, and have been witnesses of these and all 
other earthly scenes that have passed away, and 
gone into the great bottomless ocean of the hoary 
past. But Holy Writ tells us that there will be 
a time when all these heavenly bodies will pass 
away as a scroll. When we look at the history 
of the past, we discover that all the magnificent 
works and arts of the ancients, their vast cities 
and marble columns, have passed away, as well 
as the nations of antiquity. We will soon join 
this great family of the past. Our places will 
be filled by the countless throngs that succeed us 
on this earth, who, too, will pass away. So in 
the w T orld, so in God's wise and unalterable law 
of creation, of life and death, of change and time. 
9* 



202 Scholastic Literature. 

But he and his word are eternal, and will never 
pass away. 

Let me ask all of this intelligent audience to 
go back in their memories to the happy days of 
their infancy, and sum up every impressive scene, 
every friend, each acquaintance and dear relative 
they have loved, witnessed, and known up to this 
goodly December evening in the year 1868. Let 
your memories mount on the wings of thought, 
and speed up the road of your lives in your recol- 
lection, like the last - peals of thunder as its dying 
echoes reverberate over the hills and valleys of 
our native land. All have passed, like the sound 
of music on the midnight air. And our friends 
and relations have passed away — some to distant 
lands, others beyond the grave. We imagine that 
we see their familiar faces, and hear the accents 
of their well-known voices, and are with them 
again in the old familiar haunts, the dear old so- 
cial circle, or around the family altar, laughing, 
talking, and weeping over the past. how I do 
love to meditate about them, until my wearied 
brain enters the land of dreams — that spirit-land, 
to us of the earth, that enables us to see, as it 
were, eye to eye, those dear ones that have 
passed away, and those in distant lands, that 
with us are passing, passing away over the Sty- 
gian sea of earth into the haven of infinite eter- 
nity! Such thoughts and feelings are sacred, and 



We are Passing Away. 203 

serve to smooth our rugged pathway to the tomb, 
and to reconcile us to our unavoidable doom to 
pass away. Let us, then, make life useful and 
holy, so that, when we have passed away, we will 
enter into a happy existence, immortal, unchange- 
able, and eternal. 



204 Scholastic Literature. 



A DREAM. 

BY JENNIE LANE. 

It was night; the sun had performed his round 
in the heavens, and descended beyond the lakes 
to sleep in his pavilion in the west; darkness had 
drawn over the skies her sable mantle, and Na- 
ture, weary from the toils of the day, was wrapt 
in slumber. I, too, having finished the task as- 
signed me, and laid aside the companion of my 
toil, consigned myself to sleep, perchance to 
dream. 

A thousand years had passed, and I stood upon 
the storm-beaten summit of a lofty mountain, be- 
neath whose dizzy battlements once lived, flour- 
ished, and fell this American Republic. The At- 
lantic, as in former ages, still rolled its mountain 
waves, and broke with ceaseless murmurings, as 
they lashed the shores of the East; and the broad 
Pacific heaved and swelled its restless billows, as 
they thundered upon the borders of the West. 
But where was the mighty nation that once re- 
posed in peace and splendor between? Gone! 



A Dream. 205 

gone ! like the waves of the ocean, which, having 
lashed the shore and fallen back into the abyss of 
time, had disappeared forever. I turned myself 
to the North, once the mart of the world, whose 
proud cities had basked in the sunlight, and whose 
happy millions once diffused over the earth the 
light of science and art. They had vanished, and 
their tall spires lay prostrate and moldering in 
the dust. I turned to the East, and where the 
lofty Acropolis of the world once stood, and from 
whose marble forums the stentorian voice of the 
American senators once aroused the energies of 
the nations, might be heard the shrill scream of 
the vulture, mingled with the dismal hootings of 
the lonely owl ; her massive domes had fallen, the 
wild ivy clung to her stately pillars, and their 
costly chapiters lay -shattering and moldering. I 
turned to the South, and saw all as a wild ; the 
cities of the Gulf had fallen, and the stealthy fox 
roamed unmolested where once the pride of wealth 
had dominion, and beauty and luxury mingled in 
the cup of social joys; the graceful ships, once 
freighted with the rich commerce of her- fields, lay 
scattered upon the beach, and the rude huts of 
the savages constructed from their ruins ; her 
broad fields, from whose garnered treasures the 
nations of the world were supplied with luxuries 
of life, were desolated by the ravages of relentless 
war, and the very earth blackened and seared by 



206 Scholastic Literature. 

its withering "blast. I turned to the West, and 
behold ! the cities of the plain had been engulfed 
by an earthquake, her strong castles and temples 
shaken to the earth, and the red lava from the 
angry mountain had swept o'er her fertile valleys. 
Where, I asked, is the Golden City? Where are 
the rich ports of the West which had changed 
poverty to wealth, and penury to plenitude of the 
prince? Where are our navies that rode in majesty 
the waves of every ocean, and displayed to every 
nation the stars of our country on the banner of 
the free? Where are our armies, whose triumph- 
ant valor kept the nations in fear, and whose un- 
tarnished shields guarded the homes of the brave ? 
where is the American Republic — the sanctuary 
of the oppressed, around whose sacred altars happy 
millions bowed and prayed, whose living lyres sent 
patriotic devotion to God? see, said I, yonder 
is the American Eagle; she seems frightened at 
the desolation around her; she no longer perches 
upon our banner, but, with a frightful scream and 
shattered wing, she seeks the ocean. Where are 
the graves of our fathers — those mighty chieftains, 
whose blood we fondly hoped had consecrated our 
soil, and whose slumbering ashes would have 
rendered our nation perpetual? Echo answers, 
Where? Where are the tombs of Franklin, and 
Jefferson, and of Washington — mausoleums of 
the illustrious dead at whose shrine the nations 



A Bream. 207 

worshiped? Echo answers, Where? Now this 
is the end of all earthly greatness ; so all things 
perish. Then of what value is our brief existence? 
Man grows up like a gourd in the night ; in the 
morning rejoices in his strength; at noon is cut 
down, and enters into vast eternity, prepared or 
unprepared. 



208 Scholastic Literature. 



HUMAN LIFE A WARFARE. 

BY H. W. RONE. 

How sadly true, indeed, is human life a war- 
fare ! To entertain such an idea, we are conscious, 
is exceedingly averse and painful to the human 
mind; and to many, perhaps, who would fain 
fancy to themselves a brighter and more enchant- 
ing picture of man's existence — to many, perhaps, 
of the sons and daughters of pleasure, who would 
fain bow in meek adoration at the shrine of their 
devoted goddess — the truth of our proposition may 
seem dark and incomprehensible. And is it pos- 
sible that such is the existence of the noblest work 
that ever came from the fingers of Omnipotence? 
Is it possible that such is the existence of man, 
for whom all else was created ? for whom earth, 
beautified by hill and dale, was clothed in its car- 
pet of green, and made to bloom with fragrant 
flowers ? for whom was spread out the blue ceiling 
above, bedecked with the twinkling jewels of 
night ? for whom yon gigantic mountain lifts, in 
grand sublimity, its lofty summit to the skies ? for 



Human Life a Warfare. 209 

whom was intoned the cataract's thunder, and the 
rippling streamlet made to flow? for whom the 
beautifully-tinted rainbow encircles the brow of 
the cloud ? for whom, in short, all that is lovely, 
grand, awful, and sublime, was created — is it pos- 
sible, we say, that such is the existence of man, 
thus circumstanced ? In reply, we answer, Let 
his history tell. Yes, since the earliest morn of 
man's disobedience, since the eating by our first 
parents of the forbidden fruit in the garden of 
Paradise, and their consequent expulsion from the 
beatitudes of those peaceful bowers, reality, stern 
reality, ever impartial and unprejudiced, has writ- 
ten, in unmistakable characters, upon every page 
of man's historv, these words — "Human life's a 
warfare." Had our original parents heeded the 
sacred and involiate, the first and only law given 
them by Heaven, by the great Lawgiver of the 
universe, by Him who weighs the mountains in 
scales, and holds the winds in his fists, then all 
their posterity, as they, in their primeval bliss, 
might have roamed in ease and quietude o'er the 
Elysian plains of Paradise, culled the sweet flowers 
of peace and happiness, and supped at the fount 
of perfect felicity. But, strange to tell, man vio- 
lated the injunction of his God, and thus brought 
dowm upon himself and all his posterity the curse 
of an offended Providence. And hence it is that 
human life's a warfare ; hence it is that we all, 



210 Scholastic Literature. 

of every name, sex, and character, have our diffi- 
culties and sad disappointments to meet, our ene- 
mies to contend against, and our battles to fight. 

But the question naturally arises, how it is — 
what renders man's existence a warfare? — who 
and where are the foes against whom he is contend- 
ing? 'Tis true, there are seen arrayed against 
man no glittering cohorts of armed soldiery, no 
hostile army, with its plumes and blood-stained 
banners unfurled to the breeze ; 'tis true, in this 
land of civil liberty and Christianity, the war- 
whoop and din of contending armies fall not upon 
the ear of man; yet in every nook, corner, and 
by-path of man's great highway, there lies con- 
cealed an enemy to man. And as we wend our 
way up the enchanted hill of life, though all around 
present an aspect of beauty, loveliness, and gran- 
deur ; though the enchanted groves be filled with 
the most delicious music, and every passing zephyr 
wafts to our ears the sweetest notes warbled from 
siren tongues ; yet in front, behind, and on either 
side, are found the victims of man's countless and 
relentless enemies. The world is man's enemy. 
But, strange to tell, man's greatest enemies, like 
the asp that lay coiled in Cleopatra's basket of 
flowers, lie coiled in man's bosom — his most in- 
veterate enemies. There lie concealed the enven- 
omed black-mouthed serpents of envy, slander, 
hatred, and reproach, ever and anon ready to mar 



Human Life a Warfare. 211 

or utterly destroy man's peace and happiness. 
And you, to whom life presents a more pleasing 
aspect, may paint, if you please, in colors as bright 
as language can, the innocence and pleasures of 
youth ; you may talk of the rich in their palaces 
of splendor, possessed of all that seems calculated 
to make life joyous and happy, surrounded by all 
the dainties, elegance, and luxuries of earth; you 
may dwell at length on greatness, and grandeur, 
and glory, both of the past and the present, and 
yet, in the face of all this, our proposition is still 
true. I care not by what name you may be called; 
I care not even though ease and affluence, with 
all their charms and fascinations, woo vou to their 
embrace, and honor and distinction seat you upon 
the pinnacle of fame — human life is still a war- 
fare. 

Tell me not, man of letters — you whose proudest 
ambition is to occupy a seat in the temple of sci- 
ence, amid the literati of your own age and gene- 
ration, to entwine about your brow the wreath of 
literary fame — that human life is no warfare. 
True, the self-important genius, led astray by the 
delusive phantom, that Heaven has endowed him 
with a capacity far superior to the rest of Adam's 
family, may think that he, without having any 
difficulties to encounter, without having any al- 
most impregnable barriers to surmount, shall gain 
the eminence of his laudable ambition. But ah ! 



212 Scholastic Literature. 

like the light skiff that skims smoothly and rap- 
idly along for a time on the calm, unruffled bosom 
of the mighty ocean, when the dark mists of 
mathematical intricacy and mysterious lore begin 
to gather around, the storms of difficulty begin to 
howl, and the billows of disappointment rise in 
daring magnitude, he is tossed about to and fro, 
lashed by the waves of confusion, and submerged, 
it may be, in inextricable despair of ever gaining 
the haven of his fond anticipations. Tell me not, 
aged sire — you upon whose brow are seen im- 
pressed the foot-prints of time, and about whose 
temples hang locks made white by care and anxiety 
— that human life is no warfare. And to you, 
fair lady — sad to tell — upon whose cheeks sits 
blooming beauty, and — 

" In the clear heaven of whose delightful eye 
An angel guard of loves and graces lie" — 

life is naught but a drama. Though peace, pleas- 
ure, and happiness, fair goddesses, may ever sit 
them by your side, though the dark clouds of ad- 
versity may never intercept your prospect, yet the 
great, dread, and relentless enemy of all mankind 
will, sooner or later, bestride your pathway, and 
with his pestilential hands blight and cause to 
fade from off your cheek the flower that there now 
blooms, and you be reckoned among his unnum- 
bered victims. Go, if you please, and ask the 



Human Life a Warfare. 213 

most learned, the most honored, and the most 
opulent of earth, or even the humblest peasant 
that roams the distant forest, if human life is not 
a warfare ; and we are satisfied that they will all, 
from sad experience, best monitor of life, answer 
in the affirmative. And if for farther testimony 
you seek, call upon the spirits of earth's departed 
great, and ask them ; go to Mount Vernon, and 
ask the consecrated dust that there lies buried be- 
neath those sacred clods. And then, I fancy, in 
recollection of the days that tried men's souls, of 
the birthdays of independence and liberty to our 
mighty nation, might be heard echoing from every 
mountain and hill-top, from the frozen regions of 
the North to Patagonia's barren plain, from the 
rising to the setting sun, the response: "It is true/' 
Invoke, if you please, the ashes of the late de- 
parted and much-lamented sage of Ashland, and 
ask them ; and could they but answer the inter- 
rogatory, they would tell you, in strains of elo- 
quence, such as were wont to characterize him 
when living, that the envenomed arrows of envy, 
slander, hatred, wild fanaticism, and demagogism 
were constantly being hurled at him, endeavor- 
ing — shame to tell! — to destroy the usefulness 
of the champion of his country's liberty, the states- 
man, and the orator. Call upon the martyrs of 
Christianity, who long since, on the wings of faith, 
have passed from earth to the land of promise, to 



214 Scholastic Literature. 

the city of eternal repose, and ask them; and 
could they but communicate with man, they would 
tell you that when on earth they had not only to 
endure the contempt, slander, and reproach heaped 
upon them by Adam's long-lost family, but to battle 
against the king, with all his fiendish host, of the 
regions of endless misery. 

But despair not at this sad picture of man's ex- 
istence. Though countless and relentless be the 
enemies of man, and ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand their victims, yet myriads, with truth, vir- 
tue, and caution for their pilots, have navigated in 
safety the stream of time, bravely encountered and 
gloriously triumphed over all their enemies. Go, 
divine; case thyself in the mail of virtue under 
the insignia of thy high commission; fight man- 
fully thy part in this great warfare, and soon, ah ! 
soon, the bright sun of the promised millennium 
will roll on to his zenith, and with his glorious 
beams disperse from earth the foul vapor of infi- 
delity, atheism, and idolatry. Go, statesman; gird 
on thy panoply of patriotism, and with thy coun- 
try and thy country's good for thy motto, battle 
bravely against the machinations of demagogues 
civil feuds, and party factions ; and when the last 
arrow in the quiver of slander and jealousy shall 
have been hurled at thee, when you yourself shall 
have bid adieu to time, your name, like those of 
the immortal trio, shall live and bloom on every 



Human Life a Warfare. 215 

page of your country's history, and be fresh in 
the memory of all posterity. Go, man ; be true to 
God, thy country, and thy duty to thyself; be 
true, and though legion the whirlpool's eddies, and 
frail and time-worn thy little bark, though human 
life is a warfare, ah ! a warfare on the billows, you 
shall gain in safety the haven of your fond antici- 
pations, and at last be crowned with peace and 
happiness, honor and distinction, wealth and in- 
fluence. 



216 Scholastic Literature, 



ANCIENT AND MODERN REPUBLICS. 

BY S. T. COCHRAN. 

It is idle to measure the United States as a na- 
tion, or the Americans as a people, by drawing 
parallels. The entire history of the world fur- 
nishes no parallel, either to the republic or the peo- 
ple ; so that all inferences drawn, and prophecies 
made, on the strength of what nations and races 
have done in past time, are lost illustrations when 
applied to us. Every nation has its peculiarities, 
every age its phases, and every people its distinct 
manifestations. The nation is an image of the 
people ; the people are a reflex of circumstances 
and conditions, and the age is a cycle through 
which nation and people pass. The attempt to 
justify or condemn, by contrasting ancient with 
modern nations, generally shows the imbecility of 
those who search for analogies. The only analogy 
that can be drawn between nations or races is, 
that the one were either kingdoms, empires, hier- 
archies, oligarchies, or republics, from their form 
of government; and the other, either savage, bar- 



Ancient and Modern Republics. 217 

barous, civilized, or enlightened. There is just 
so much similarity, and no more. Scythia was a 
kingdom, and so is England ; Greece was a repub- 
lic, and so is the United States ; and there the 
parallel ends. The old kingdoms and republics 
founded their politics upon their peculiar positions, 
according to the character and circumstances of 
their people, and the new do the same. But how 
different may be those positions, characters, and 
circumstances! England is not like Spain, yet 
both are kingdoms ; nor is our America of to- 
day like the Rome and Greece of two thousand 
years ago, though all republics. The warnings and 
prophecies of those who divine the future from the 
past are mere speculations. It is barely possible 
to say that man is the same in all ages ; he is only 
so in certain sympathies and wants. Men, in all 
ages, and in all conditions, require air to breathe, 
food and drink for their nourishment, and certain 
protective raiment and shelter, and these not in the 
same proportions, but according to climate and oc- 
cupation. Whatever is higher than these instinc- 
tive necessities, depends on the character of races, 
and the age in which they live. 

The United States have been compared to Greece 
and Rome, and warnings have been founded on 
the comparison. Where is the likeness, except in 
the name Republic? Had Greece or Rome a free 
people, educated, enlightened, and surrounded by 
10 



218 Scholastic Literature. 

institutions like ours ? had they commerce, agricul- 
ture, arts, steamboats, ships, railroads, telegraphs, 
and sciences like ours ? had they even navies and 
armies like ours, and, what is more, soil, climate, 
resources, and people dispositioned as in the great 
Anglo-Saxon American Republic? Certainly not. 
Therefore there is no parallel between them. 
Ballot-boxes, common schools, the printing-press, 
steam, electricity, and Christianity, make us one 
thing; Greece and Rome, with their inheritance 
and acquirements, were quite another. If we 
push a conquest or enlarge the bounds of empire, 
some political owl is ready to hoot in our ears : 
"Remember the fate of the ancient republics." If 
the darkness of their ages and the scantiness of 
their genius belong to us, with the name Republic, 
we might hear their warnings. But we only bear 
the name; the old circumstances and conditions 
are swept away — lost forever. Warnings are wor- 
thy of our heed only when they are based on our 
violation of true republican principles. Rome was 
a military republic, born of force and magnified 
by unscrupulous conquests. She held her empire 
together, not by unity of language, not by com- 
munity of interests and equality of enjoyment 
among her captive nations, nor by a common gov- 
ernment, but by the sword; and when the native 
hand that held the sword grew weak, the empire 
was broken and scattered. She had no art but the 



Ancient and Modern Republics. 219 

tread of her legions to compass and annihilate dis- 
tance ; no lightning-winged wires threading the 
air from ocean to ocean, and under and through 
the great deep, and no railroads making near neigh- 
bors of men at the remotest distances — no, scarcely 
a feature in common with our country had she and 
her older sister, Greece. All empires and repub- 
lics, it has been said, contain within themselves 
the seeds of dissolution. We can hardly indulge 
the fond hope that our American Republic will be 
perpetuated. " Passing away" is written on all 
things earthly. Greece and Rome fell from causes 
peculiar to their age and country. They were cir- 
cumscribed in territory. The United States have 
the most productive and highly favored country in 
the world, and are surrounded with all the advan- 
tages of modern civilization, and have the lamp of 
historical experience to guide their republican feet. 
But should the day of our dissolution as a united 
government come, it will no doubt be traced to 
causes peculiar to our people — the age in which 
they live — the vast extent of our territory, and 
the ambition and diversity of interests and thought 
that must necessarily arise, in the course of time, 
from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific. But we are immeasurably superior 
to the ancient republics : more mind, more vitality, 
more of every thing to make us beyond compari- 
son; and we will go on changing and improving; 



220 Scholastic Literature. 

knowing, by what has already occurred in Ameri- 
can history, that our future destiny is to be grand 
and glorious, in peace and war. That the mission 
of the American Republic will redound to the 
benefit of the civilized world, needs no prophecy 
to foretell. May our country become a great 
beacon-light to future ages, and to the people of 
every clime and language, and every succeeding 
age, an excellent pattern of that "righteousness 
that exalteth a nation." 



Woman and Her Mission. 221 



WOMAN AND HER MISSION. 

BY PARRIE HIGHTOWER. 

I appeak before you this evening, my lady 
friends, not to flatter you with any pathetic ap- 
peals of applause, but simply to present woman 
in her true and majestic sphere; regarding woman 
as the living vitality of humanity, for to her is 
committed the training of the rising generation. 
She is the scale of material nature in unison with 
the spiritual, and is a spectacle alike interesting 
to Creator and creature, to all intelligences of all 
ranks and orders of beings, both terrestrial and 
celestial. If the morning stars in concert sang, and 
all the sons of God shouted for joy, when the 
drama of creation culminated in the person of 
Eve; can she, whose very name is life in its 
first impersonation and full-orbed grandeur, ever 
cease to be not only the dearest object of earthly 
affection, but the most attractive ever seen, when 
robed in all the graces and charms of our ran- 
somed and beautiful humanity? I speak not of 
her as she now is, in any of the diversified con- 



222 Scholastic Literature. 

ditions of her being, superinduced by the enmity, 
if not the envy, of a fallen seraph; but I speak 
of her as she was, when she stood at the left side 
of Adam, on the day of her espousal, in the 
bridal robes of angelic purity and love. It was 
then, in the ambrosial bowers of Eden's paradise, 
she stood attired in charms of intellectual gran- 
deur, moral beauty, and ecstatic bliss. But in an 
evil hour she hearkened to the deceitful eloquence 
of Satanic flattery, and touched the alluring fruit 
of the one forbidden tree, "whose mortal taste 
brought death into the world, and all our woe ;" 
and she, having eaten, sat pensive and sad, and 
stretched out her hand and gave to Adam, and he 
did eat, being influenced by her charms. Being 
overcome by her former loveliness, he was unwil- 
ling for her to be driven from this earthly para- 
dise, and himself left alone amidst its lonely bow- 
ers, and he thus bid adieu to all his relationship 
to his Creator, and since that time his race has 
been a degenerating and dying spectacle to the 
world. 

And now, born, as we are, creatures of mere 
instinctive appetites and passions, we are subject 
to become an easy prey to the snares of the same 
Satanic flattery. Our mother Earth furnishes its 
thorns and thistles, calling forth the strength and 
energy of our race to subdue them, and cultivate 
the broad fields for a subsistence. Had it not 



Woman and Her Mission. 223 

been for the kindness of God to us, we should 
have known nothing of our origin — nothing in 
regard to our duties to each other, and our most 
important obligations to him. This is a solemn, 
significant, soul-appalling fact, no matter how we 
may interpret it. But for man's disobedience to 
God's law, influenced as he was by woman, no 
tear ever would have moistened the cheek of 
beauty, no anxiety would have troubled the hu- 
man breast, and no guilt would ever have clouded 
the understanding or harrowed the soul of man. 
It therefore became essential to our redemption 
that some supernatural intervention should have 
been originated and instituted, or else our escape 
from this sad condition would have been, so far as 
we are able to reason, utterly impossible. For 
what was woman made ? You are no doubt ready 
to answer: "She was created for a helpmeet for 
man." Man was created in the image of God, 
and woman in the image of man. Man was de- 
signed to glorify God, and enjoy him forever in 
the immediate presence of the heavenly host. 
This stand-point is lofty, and commands a very 
large horizon; but it is by no means a fictitious 
position, nor an exaggerated importance assumed, 
but is as solid as the rock of ages. There is a 
great deal in names. Adam gave to woman the 
name of Eve, which word, from the original, 
means "life" — the most appropriate and felici- 



224 Scholastic Literature. 

tous, also suggestive name, that could have been 
given her. It is a most beautiful and holy name. 
No monosyllable in the universe carries in it so 
much signification, as connected with man's ter- 
restrial happiness — no one that combines in it 
such sacred relations to man as the word "life." 
It includes in it, that which will bring to bear the 
essentials of happiness on earth. Then she was 
made bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, and 
they twain are one flesh. 

I would remark, farther, that the state of so- 
ciety is shown forth by the manner in which 
woman is educated, regarded, and esteemed. In 
uncivilized countries she is the slave of her hus- 
band; yes, in many lands, heretofore, she has 
been carried by her parents to the public market, 
and sold to the highest bidder, for a companion 
for man. Again, in other lands and countries, she 
holds the scepter of power. Neither the first nor 
the second position was the one originally de- 
signed for her by her Creator. Being taken from 
man's side, is significant of the idea that she is 
neither to rule as the head, nor be trampled under 
foot, but to be really a helpmeet for man, to bear 
with him his toils and labors of life, and to share 
with him its joys. In our own beloved land, 
woman is esteemed and regarded as she should 
be : here she enters not into the trouble and labor 
of Church or State, but is ever ready to assist, by 



Woman and Her Mission. 225 

her smiles, the carrying out of any great and 
glorious objects. God, in nature, in providence, 
in moral government, in redemption, presents to 
the senses of man and to his reason nothing in 
the abstract, but every thing in the concrete. 
Every thing in nature exists in holy wedlock and 
in family circles. 

But I must say something in regard to her mis- 
sion. I may say emphatically that her mission is 
one of love and mercy. A well-cultivated and 
educated mind in the angelic form of woman is 
the greatest power to effect morality. It is true, 
her mission is not to go as a messenger to foreign 
courts, nor to carry the means of salvation to 
heathen lands, only so far as she may become 
a helpmeet in the labors of her husband; yet it is 
hers ever to impress her graces upon the youthful 
mind, and to stamp the true principles of states- 
manship on the hearts of her sons. It is for her 
to instill into the tender mind and imprint on the 
fleshly tablets of the memory those eternal and 
never-dying principles of the gospel of the Son 
of God. Young ladies, your mission, therefore, 
is one of great amplitude, and to be prepared for 
it requires great and untiring energy. You should 
never be satisfied in doing a part of your duty, 
but your aim should be to do all of your duty. 
Then you will be respected by the good and pious 
of earth, and approved by the God who made you. 
10* 



226 Scholastic Literature. 

Then let your constant aim in life be to become 
useful to yourselves, and benefactors to all with 
whom you come in contact in the world; and 
when your lives have been thus spent, your Hea- 
venly Father will give you an abode in the man- 
sions above, where your joys will be indescribable 
and full of glory. 



Ruins. 227 



RUINS. 

BY ALICE DAVIDSON. 

The ocean continues its course onward, still 
onward. Neither have the wheels of time ceased 
to roll silently; they continue their work of de- 
struction, hurling headlong into decay cities, na- 
tions, and empires. How pregnant with instruc- 
tion are the wrecks and ruins of ancient times! 
Must man not be convinced of the utter worth- 
lessness of all human glory and ambition, whilst 
viewing the remains of cities which once stood, in 
point of power and grandeur, far above and be- 
yond any thing recorded in history? He is a re- 
flective being, and must inevitably pause, and ask 
himself the question, Do I read my destiny in the 
"ruins" of pristine cities which diversify the face 
of the globe ? Is it true that I must bud from in- 
fancy into manhood, and in this stage of life oc- 
cupy the position of master, lord, and ruler of all 
other created beings; then, from this pinnacle of 
glory, fall and crumble into the dust from whence 
I was formed? Alas ! echo too quickly answers, 



228 Scholastic Literature, 

"Yes;" that you, among the rest, must sink into 
the vortex of oblivion. Unroll the scrolls which 
contain the records of past ages. We read of 
cities, empires, nations, which have stood pre- 
eminent in power and grandeur. These empires 
and nations have been entirely obliterated, or live 
only in the shadow of their glory. Though the 
works of hundreds and even thousands of hands 
have been, and are still, crumbling into decay, 
portions of them are yet left, to exhibit to man 
a type of himself. Desolation reigns supreme, 
and the fragments of those once imperial cities 
are crumbling beneath the hand of time. The 
Pyramids are still standing; they seem to have 
been hallowed by the hand of time, as lonely em- 
blems of human ambition. But where are the 
kings who planned their construction, and the 
thousands of miserable slaves who put them into 
execution? Alas! their bones are now bleaching 
in the desert wastes of Egypt, with none to 
breathe a last requiem, save the murmuring 
waters of the Nile. Has the impartial monarch, 
Time, ever held such indisputable sway? Go 
seek an answer in the ruins of Athens and Baby- 
lon. Athens now lies low in ruins. Though she 
is silently slumbering in the dust, each fragment 
addresses the traveler with eloquence which ex- 
cels that of her boasted orators. She was once 
the most brilliant luminary of the literary world. 



Ruins. 229 

She seems to have been the birthplace of every 
art. It was here that the temperature of the at- 
mosphere was increased by the stirring eloquence 
of Demosthenes. Two of her boasted sons issued 
laws to the world. She has cradled poets. The 
world-renowned Athens has been hallowed by the 
presence of Greece's blind bard, who has so glori- 
ously and sublimely sung of the beautiful but 
fickle Helen, who was the cause of the siege and 
capture of Troy. But alas ! poets, warriors, law- 
givers, and philosophers, all have perished in the 
long night of time, and now seem to be mingling 
with the fragments of this once great and glorious 
city. On the banks of the Euphrates is heard, 
in low whisperings, the words, "Passed away;" 
and on every object that greets the human eye, 
"Ruins" is written. The hall in which Bel- 
shazzar's guests once assembled is now a heap of 
ruins, the home of scorpions, serpents, and other 
venomous reptiles. Within the United States' 
limits, a nation, which is rapidly passing away, 
once held undisputed sway. Here the red man 
roved supreme, master of the dense forest, broad 
prairies, and lofty mountains w T hich lie between 
the two vast bodies of water, the Atlantic and 
Pacific. But how long were they to maintain 
such undisputed authority? On the 11th of Oc- 
tober, 1492, the untutored Indian observed in the 
distance, on the turbid bosom of the deep-blue 



230 Scholastic Literature. 

Atlantic, something which seemed to be propelled 
by wings of celestial whiteness. But alas! in- 
stead of its being a harbinger of good from the 
starry sphere which o'ercanopied their heads, it 
proved to be the first infringement upon their 
rights. Yes, it was the frail bark which con- 
tained fair Italia's navigator, the bold and brave 
Christopher Columbus. In process of time, the 
woodman's axe was heard resounding through the 
dense forest; villages, churches, and cities rapidly 
reared their heads in the plains and valleys where 
once the red man freely roved; the various 
streams are now whitened by the sails of com- 
merce, whose placid bosoms in ages past remained 
unrippled, save by the gliding of the Indian's 
light canoe ; in the grove and forest, where now 
our prominent orators are wont to thrill the heart- 
strings of the populace, in ages past the Indian's 
war-whoop rent the air. But the ruins of things 
formed by terrestrial beings sink into utter insig- 
nificance when compared with that of the mind 
of man, the great architect of which is the im- 
mortal God. 



The Sword. 231 



THE SWORD. 

BY ANN HOLDEN. 

The truth of the assertion that "the pen is 
mightier than the sword" may be seriously, and, I 
think, successfully controverted. The history of 
mankind shows that when the pen and all the 
diplomacy of statesmanship have failed, the sword 
has been resorted to, to cut the " Gordian knot" of 
disputed questions and conflicting interests of in- 
dividuals and nations. By the sword, I mean 
force and the power of numbers, organized and 
wielded to effect the object in view. The power 
and logic of the pen thus yield to the mightier one 
of the sword. The highest tribunal and arbiter 
of human events, the " God of battles," is appealed 
to, and the decision is final and inevitable. There 
is no appeal then — the sword has triumphed, is 
supreme victor. The pen is then used to write 
terms of peace, and so arrange the policy and 
laws of the States, dictated by the antecedent and 
superior power, the sword. 

Those who wield the sword successfully are 



232 Scholastic Literature. 

also, generally, accomplished masters of the pen 
and statesmanship, and by the use of the pen they 
record the results and the changes among nations 
effected by the means of the sword. 

History shows us that all the great changes in 
systems of government, all the revolutions against 
tyrants, by which the citizens have been improved 
and protected, have been wrung from the musty 
tyranny of the pen by the power of the sword. 
The armed barons of England compelled King 
John to grant Magna Charta. The civil wars of 
England wrung from the hands of kingly power 
rights for the people, and free constitutional gov- 
ernment for the citizens. In the time of our revo- 
lution, the sword was resorted to, to achieve our 
independence from British oppression. It com- 
pelled England to grant it. The sword of Napoleon 
Bonaparte broke up and cut to pieces the feudal 
systems of Europe, unchained the minds of the 
subjects of kings, and forced them to grant to the 
people more rights and privileges, more freedom, 
and all secured by written stipulations, caused by 
the resistless power of the sword, wielded by men 
who could fight and think for themselves. This 
opened up a new era in the history of Europe, 
and destroyed the tyranny and slavish custom of 
ages of kingly despotism. When the storm is 
raging, the thunder rolling, the keen forked light- 
ning burns up the impure air that surrounds the 



The Sword. 233 

earth; it consumes with a resistless power, and 
makes our globe habitable and healthy. So the 
sword uproots slavish minds of bigotry and imbecil- 
ity enthroned in power, and the seas of blood that 
flow purify and elevate statesmanship. It was 
only by years of war that the doctrine of Martin 
Luther and John Huss obtained a footing against 
the Roman Catholic power at Rome. The sword 
successfully defended Protestantism. All that is 
excellent to a civil government and religious free- 
dom have been won and secured by the sword, 
amid the carnage and smoke of thousands of bat- 
tle-lields. The right was not only asserted, but 
successfully maintained by the sword. It seems 
that mankind can best progress and improve by 
the sad lesson of force. A war of elements is 
necessary to purify the earth, and it seems that 
war among men is a part of nature ; and although 
the sword may cause much misery and desolation, 
yet it is only through its agency that men's minds 
are revolutionized to progress, and are induced to 
forsake the dull past for the new, and grander, 
and better thoughts of the future. 

The sword cut the " Gordian knot" of the men- 
tal chains, and gave to Liberty its first birthright, 
and to minds a nearer and wider field to exercise 
their pen. 

Then the pen often causes war and bloodshed ; 
the sword then settles the terms of peace. Then 



234 Scholastic Literature. 

the pen again becomes mighty, until, by its im- 
proper use, war is again produced. Then the 
mightier power of the sword is called in to settle 
the quarrel of the pen. 



The Works of Nature. 235 



THE WORKS OF NATURE. 

BY S. R. BRADSHAW. 

The works of Nature afford interesting themes 
for instruction and contemplation; they fill the 
mind with admiration to behold the wonderful 
and lively concert of their operations, and lead us 
to adore that Being whose glory the heavens de- 
clare, and whose handiwork the firmament show- 
eth. We very frequently pass on, rather negli- 
gently, not heeding the great works of Nature, or 
we regard with almost entire indifference their 
beauty, their loveliness, as well as their uses to 
us. "Change" is written upon every thing hu- 
man. Customs and laws of olden times give 
place to other customs and laws, as the world ad- 
vances in knowledge. But the grand system of 
Nature's laws remains unmoved and unimpaired. 
We see variety, indeed, but every thing is in obe- 
dience to established laws. 

At one time the elements may all be calm and 
serene, with not a cloud in the blue ethereal void, 
while the heavens shine, undimmed, with bril- 



236 Scholastic Literature. 

liancy and glory. Again, the scene is changed in 
a moment, and where order and quiet reigned, all 
is disorder and confusion amid the war of ele- 
ments. Now nothing is seen or heard but the 
dark clouds rolling from west to east, accompanied 
by the keen flashes of lightning, that play across 
the heavens from pole to pole, while deep-toned 
thunders roll, and winds howl to winds, as they 
rush and sweep along the earth. All things seem 
to threaten instant destruction to man. But this 
dismal scene of disorder and confusion will soon 
disappear, in the ordinary course of nature; then 
the sky will appear as beautiful and as lovely as 
if disorder had never reigned amid the heavens. 
This is in obedience to the laws of Nature, which 
must go on and be accomplished, otherwise the 
world would speedily eventuate in ruin. And 
here we have a proof of Nature's God in the 
grand economy of this world's affairs, and the 
power by which these things are regulated and 
sustained throughout the universe. 

Manifold, indeed, are the operations of Nature. 
Although centuries have elapsed since their crea- 
tion, they have never deviated from their steady 
course in the onward progress of her works. The 
seasons, with a variety of the^r blessings, regu- 
larly return. Winter, spring, summer, and au- 
tumn have ever visited us in due time. We have 
been enabled to appreciate the loveliness of the 



The Works of Nature. 237 

cheering, enlivening, and animating spring-time, 
with its bland breezes and rich fragrance, decked 
with flowers, and arrayed in living verdure. 
how potent the charms of spring, so fit an emblem 
of youth and vigor! Now the summer's genial 
warmth and maturing influence are passing over 
the world, and their foot-prints may be seen on 
the face of Nature, ripening into maturity the 
golden harvest. Autumn will succeed, and then 
the howling blast and chilling frost will lay bare 
the forest, and prepare the way for cold, cheerless 
winter, amid which the songs of birds are hushed 
in profound silence. Now all Nature seems en- 
veloped in gloom and storm. 

Thus, we see, the same seasons come and go, 
adorning the earth in verdure, or stripping it of 
its gay wardrobe; at one time adorning with 
flowers and vines every valley, and every hill-top 
and craggy mountain-brow, while the air is filled 
with the richest perfume, and every zephyr is 
loaded with the odors of beautiful spring; and 
now the aerial warblers vocalize the hills and 
plains with sweetest melody, and seem to time 
their notes in unison with the spheres that roll, 
in matchless beauty and majesty, through the vast 
pavilion that overhangs our heads. 

And again, all Nature is changed. Snow-capped 
mountains, decked with icicles, that glisten and 
sparkle in the sunlight of day like sparkling gems, 



238 Scholastic Literature. 

now exhibit the beauty of foliage and flowers. 
No voice is heard there save the dismal shriek of 
the lonesome winter-bird, which is always omin- 
ous of gathering and approaching storm. Who 
can look out on the works of Nature, and say 
there is nothing of interest in them? Who that 
surveys the wonders of Nature can but be inter- 
ested? Let him glance at the stupendous mass 
of rocks suspended from the craggy brow of hea- 
ven-piercing mountains, threatening, as it were, in- 
stant destruction to all beneath ; yet from age to 
age they retain their primitive position, unchanged 
amid the revolutions that sweep in their train the 
institutions and governments of man; they stand 
impervious to the attack of time itself, while at 
their base the ceaseless streams send onward to 
the ocean their waters, and the gentle rill that is 
gushing from its lofty eminence gurgles on with 
its sparkling ripples. 

Then, look again to the restless waters of old 
Ocean, that have been ebbing and flowing, beating 
and dashing her white billows against the beach 
for six thousand years, and gaze on the vast ex- 
panse of its mighty deep, and you are lost in the 
bewildering mazes of the sublime. Turn, then, 
your attention to that truly sublime and magnifi- 
cent arch that opens out in the blue vault of hea- 
ven, and you gaze far away into the mighty dis- 
tance that sweeps almost beyond the dim vision 



The Works of Nature. 239 

of mortals; comets, stars, and suns loom out in 
matchless grandeur, till lost in man's limited 
vision. Soar aloft on the eager wings of curios- 
ity, till its weary pinions are lost; then bid im- 
agination spread her wings of fancy, and travel 
through the wide range of stars, suns, and sys- 
tems, that move on as harmoniously as when the 
sons of God shouted for joy, at the beginning of 
time. 

These are some of the works of Nature, upon 
which the master-hand of perfection has performed 
nothing that is worthless or without use to us, if 
we rightly appreciate and correctly consider them. 
The broad, placid lake, the rolling river, the ris- 
ing moon, the setting sun, the fixed stars, heaven 
and earth — yea, the universe, teem with interest 
as lasting as time itself. But man, it is said, is 
the last and the best of Nature's works ; all else 
upon which the eye of man can rest is but matter, 
inert, irrational, subject to decay; but man is a 
compound being, soul and body, mind and matter 
— one part of which he holds in common with the 
gods, the other in common with the brutes. One 
part must perish and pass away; the other must 
live when suns and stars have ceased to shine. 

How deeply, then, should we feel the impor- 
tance of attending to that which is destined to 
endure forever ! Let us, then, while we pay a 
tribute of respect to the mighty mass of matter 



240 Scholastic Literature. 

under our observation in every direction, resolve 
to apply our hearts unto wisdom, and, in all of 
our gettings, get wisdom and understanding — cul- 
tivate, train, and educate our minds, that we may 
be useful in our day and generation. 



Beaut?/ Without Paint. 241 



BEAUTY WITHOUT PAINT. 

BY FLORELLA WIGGS. 

There is such a thing as beauty without paint, 
but many young ladies will hold on with tenacity 
and avidity to that with which they color their 
faces — with the detestable preparation gotten up 
to please their vanity, and lighten their purses. 
A house or fence may appear to a better advan- 
tage painted than not ; but I have to see my first 
young lady that is lovelier for the daub of paint 
on her cheeks. I want all young ladies to re- 
member this. Don't use paint; don't try to give 
a soft and delicate carnation hue to your cheeks 
by adopting any such an illusion. Some wander- 
ing poet said: 

"This is high treason against all graces — 
It is only savages that paint their faces." 

If the poet is correct, what savages compose a 
great portion of the good society — yea, even 
females ! 

Not many years ago, it was considered, in some 
11 



242 Scholastic Literature. 

places, quite offensive for a lady to thus artifi- 
cially color her cheeks ; but the sight of unnatural 
rosy cheeks now is quite common, and many real, 
wise, clever young ladies are guilty of it. The 
ruddy complexion which comes and goes (from 
the apothecary to the dressing-room) is met every- 
where — -at the church, at the social gathering, and 
on the public street. Would such persons like to 
be caught in the act of painting? No, indeed! 
And yet, don't they know that the paint on their 
cheeks tells what they have been doing? It is 
enough that the form should owe its symmetry 
to covered steel, much less that the face should 
owe its beauty to "Laird's Bloom of Youth" and 
pink. 

But a word to the young men. I do not think 
the ladies are by themselves, for I think a great 
many of the young of the present age shine some- 
times in borrowed plumes. If not, from whence 
comes that glossy black mustache, and golden 
ringlets, which by nature are of a flaming red? 
And then, they have a way of coloring their faces 
which I do not think half so becoming as the way 
in which the ladies paint, for it not only affects 
their faces, but their persons generally. Now, 
young men, in seeking good looks, never mind 
using paints, but color your hearts to the ruddiest 
glow of honor and honesty; brighten your intel- 
lects, and go it strong, by all means, on principles 



Beauty Without Paint. 243 

of honor. An old writer has said that women, in 
fishing for husbands, rely too much upon their 
personal, instead of their mental charms; they 
forget that an enticing bait is of little value with 
a sensible fish, unless accompanied with a good 
hook, a proper line, and a suitable landing-net. 



244 Scholastic Literature. 



THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN 
PEOPLE. 



BY E. A. DAVIDSON. 



The destiny of the American people is a theme 
that should and does command, not only the at- 
tention of Americans, but the eyes of the wise 
and far-seeing of the habitable globe are fixed with 
steady gaze and inquiring scrutiny as to our ulti- 
mate destiny. 

Since the dawn of creation, and man's fall in 
the garden of Eden, and the rejection of his 
Maker's government, he has ever been fabricating 
one of his own construction, and, like every other 
production of his puny, short arm, his constructed 
governments have failed. Century after century 
has rolled by, converting time into eternity, and 
leaving the experience of one generation recorded 
on the great tablet of remembrance for the benefit 
of the next ; and even with this, we see that his 
progress has been oscillating — first advancing and 
then receding. Greece and Rome, at one time, 
seemed to prove the grand problem that man's 



The Destiny of the American People. 245 

wisdom could devise and arrange a stable form of 
government that would endure for ages to come ; 
but, alas ! how vain the delusion ! Soon they 
crumbled in the crucible of time, and are erased 
from the long, gilded scroll of fame and grandeur. 
And where, I ask, are those of more modern ex- 
istence? They have revealed to us, in unsealed 
books, their beginning and their ending. They 
have all faded into nothingness and insignificance, 
save a very few of the more oppressive, whose 
extreme tyranny alone gives them a lingering 
quasi existence ; and we stand — if we do stand — 
the only and the last evidence of a liberal and re- 
publican government. Then, indeed, the inquiry 
as to our probable destiny is one of paramount 
importance. Shall we but repeat the failure of 
those who have preceded us ? Shall we betray 
ourselves into the follies of ruin and extermina- 
tion ? Shall we be added to the long catalogue of 
failures, and with them claim the inscription: 
" They were, but are not"? Forbid it, Americans 
— forbid it! May all the good and wise, and 
Heaven itself, conspire to prevent it ; because with 
the departure of the last fading ray of republican 
government will go the exalted privilege of wor- 
shiping the great God of the universe according 
to the free dictates of the conscience, besides in- 
numerable other privileges that tend to elevate us 
in the scale of true worth and genuine greatness. 



246 Scholastic Literature. 

Is it possible, my respected audience, that these 
great blessings are at hazard? Is this glorious 
government yet in the test scale ? Yes, indeed, it 
is the question of the hour. 

The civil strife and commotion of the past few 
years have not been justly quieted, and still dark 
clouds may be seen gathering and lowering around 
the proud bird of liberty ; yet all hopeful minds 
think they see the day-star of peace and order 
gleaming through this dark and dismal gloom that 
has so long surrounded us. Then, to-day, my 
hoary-headed sires, your country calls on you, by 
all you hold dear and sacred, to come to the de- 
fense of right in the ripe strength of your declin- 
ing years. It calls on you, mothers, wives, daugh- 
ters, to lend your all-controlling influence to reerect 
the altars of your country, around which have 
burned with fervor such spirits as Washington, 
Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson, whose time-hon- 
ored ashes quietly repose in our soil, and await 
the great day of rewards. 



Dignity 'of the Human Mind. 247 



DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN MIND. 

BY J. W. BARRON. 

God, in the beginning, made man in his own 
image, and endowed him with mind to be improved. 
The dignity of man consists in elevation of his 
mind. In proportion as this is improved, he rises 
in the scale of being. Objects are dignified, either 
from their intrinsic worth, or from their connection 
with other objects. Through both these mediums 
we may contemplate the dignity of the human 
mind. The highest existence in the universe is 
mind. The mortal world is beheld with admira- 
tion. The heavens, and the earth, and the many 
events which result from the Divine power and 
government, are vast and wonderful, and frequent- 
ly awful and solemn — in many instances, exquis- 
itely beautiful, eminently sublime; but this out- 
ward system is itself the product of mind, and 
consequently inferior. All its harmony, beauty, 
and grandeur are the fruits and manifestations of 
thought. This is the supreme agency which gives 



248 Scholastic Literature. 

being to all worlds — the unseen power which, at 
first spread out the heavens as nothing, which still 
bears up the pillars of the universe, and controls 
the destiny of created beings. 

The human mind is noble in itself, but it as- 
sumes a more elevated rank from its internal re- 
lation to the higher intelligences. It is the only 
existence on earth that bears the likeness of its 
Creator. It is true, the invisible Being is exhib- 
ited in all the world by his works. His beauty is 
seen in the verdure, the fruits, and the flowers 
which adorn the surface of the earth. In all 
signatures of order and design are seen the effects 
of his unsearchable wisdom. All that is, first 
shows forth the uncreated excellence of the Eter- 
nal. In the spring, his life reanimates the world. 
In all that is grand and sublime his awful majesty 
is displayed. His way is in the whirlwind, and 
the storm and the clouds are the dust at his feet. 
How enchanted is the beauty, how exalted the 
grandeur, even of material substance, when em- 
ployed to exhibit the wisdom, the benevolence, 
and the power of the Almighty! 

But an incomparably higher degree of dignity 
is conferred on the human mind. Other objects 
of creation are only the works of Jehovah, while 
this bears the bright impress of God himself. We 
usually judge of the dignity of objects and char- 
acters by the attention which is paid to them. 



Dignity of the Human Mind. 249 

Should we see a stranger receiving tokens of re- 
spect and friendship from the world, this simple 
fact would be sufficient to raise him in our estima- 
tion. 

What, then, must be the character of the hu- 
man mind which has received the most striking 
marks of attention from the highest order of 
beings ? Angels manifest a deep interest in the 
development of his mind, and it is more than 
probable that the great dignity of Nature's works 
is to furnish a school of instruction to intel- 
ligent beings ; the book of creation and provi- 
dence is enriched and embellished by its Author 
with whatever has a tendency to improve the 
mind, please the imagination, and interest the 
heart. 

In this exhaustless fountain of knowledge the 
intellectual and moral powers find their nutriment, 
strength, and happiness. The contemplative mind 
sees itself surrounded with sources of the highest 
enjoyment. In every walk it can draw instruction 
from Nature's pages, and in every solitude retire 
within itself and feast upon its own resources. A 
cultivated mind commands the respect and admira- 
tion of the world. High intellectual endowments 
have preserved from oblivion the names of ancient 
sages, and will perpetuate the only true fame to 
the end of time. 

Men who retired from theaters of action cen- 
11* 



250 Scholastic Literature. 

turies ago have, by strength and vigor of thought, 
procured a celebrity which has not only reached 
the present age, but which will extend to rising 
generations through centuries yet to come. 



Books. 251 



BOOKS. 

BY MARY WIGGS. 

It is sometimes the case that reading entirely 
molds the human character, and it is a universally 
conceded fact that it gives tone to our ideas and 
sentiments. The advantage of a judicious course 
of reading cannot be overestimated. Through the 
medium of books we become the pupils of the 
philosophers of all ages, and masters of all the 
arts and sciences. Through books we travel con- 
tinents, traverse oceans, tread the burning sands 
of deserts, and cut through the ice-bound seas and 
eternal snows of the Arctic regions. Through the 
same medium we become acquainted with the 
history, laws, manners, and customs of all the na- 
tions of the earth — with their lawgivers, prophets, 
priests, and poets, and the leading and controlling 
minds of each, and can determine from this knowl- 
edge how far each age and nation has advanced in 
knowledge, science, and civilization. From the 
same exhaustless fountain we may draw pure 
streams of knowledge in all of Nature's varied de- 



252 Scholastic Literature. 

partments — the flowers of the garden rivaling in 
beauty the hues of the rainbow, and in number 
almost equaling the sands of the sea. Botany 
hands us the key to its arrangement and classifi- 
cation. Geology teaches us to find beauty and 
instruction in the rugged rocks, the writing on 
whose massive pages was done by the Almighty 
himself, ages before man was created. Astronomy 
unfolds to man its exhaustless stores of knowl- 
edge and profitable instruction, by showing to us 
the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in this 
harmonious arrangement of suns, planets, and 
satellites, all moving in regular and harmonious 
order together, with the unnumbered comets flying 
as messengers of light to the uttermost limits of 
the system. 

We can converse with the poets of all times, 
those worshipers of Nature and her teachings, and 
whose glowing thoughts enlighten and electrify the 
soul. Whether it be the bold, sublime, and heroic 
numbers of Homer or Virgil, or the more diversi- 
fied and philosophical strains of a Shakspeare or a 
Milton, or the still more sweet and touching notes 
of a Cowper, a Kirke White, or a Burns, we are, 
in every case, edified, improved, and delighted 
with the acquaintance. 

From books we may learn useful knowledge on 
any and all subjects, and in all the departments 
of life, from the particles which compose a dew- 



Books. 253 

drop up to that subtile power which sustains the 
principle of life — from the traditional history of 
our native Indian tribes to the glowing pages of 
the history of the land " where Csesar fought and 
Virgil sung." 

Let us, then, have more books and better ones 
— the good, solid, and instructive ; not the light, 
flimsy trash found in modern novels and romances, 
which intoxicate the brain by the unnatural stimu- 
lus, aod make the heart sick from excess of pas- 
sion. It is said by moral philosophers (and I do 
not doubt the fact) that the youth of the present 
age, more especially the more gifted and better 
classes, are doing themselves and society a great 
wrong by thus abusing and perverting the great 
powers of mind with which God has endowed 
them. This insatiable thirst for novel-reading is 
indulged in, by its devotees, with an excessive 
avidity and devotion, and to a degree of excess, 
equaled only by the inebriate's love of the intoxi- 
cating bowl. The world is full of books, good, 
valuable, and instructive. Why, then, should we 
waste our time and abuse our minds with the 
highly-wrought fictions and the sickly sentimental- 
ism found in the popular novels of the day ? Let 
us, then, turn our faces from them — avoid them as 
we would known evils ; for books, when vicious 
and corrupting, have the same influence on the 
young that vicious and bad associates have. It is 



254 Scholastic Literature. 

a moral duty which we owe to ourselves and our 
Maker, to avoid them; and, above all, let us study- 
well that book of God, the Bible, wherein we will 
learn our duty to God, to man, and to ourselves. 



Work On. 255 



WORK ON. 

BY JENNIE REED. 

There is a voice in the air which chides us for 
delay. Nature is never idle. The whole creation 
teems with action. Watch the planets as they 
whirl on for ages in the orbits prescribed for them; 
they know not the force of weariness, and delay 
is an unknown term. The " crimson-tipped daisy/' 
just putting forth in the merry spring-time, teaches 
the same great lesson: "Bloom to-day, to-morrow 
I die." One bids us toil constantly; the other 
bids us be speedy. Nothing remains the same. 
The air is constantly in motion, although it is often 
imperceptible. Time is every moment flitting by 
us, and recording on its pages the very action of 
our lives. We are immortal beings, capable of 
thought, taken in its deepest sense. Why should 
we fold our hands, and listlessly glide down the 
stream of existence, without causing one single 
bubble of good, to ourselves or to others, to float 
over its turbid surface? Why is life given to us? 
Why have we souls and reasoning powers ? Surely 



256 Scholastic Literature. 

man was not made in vain ! And shall man — the 
noblest work of Him who made all things well — 
be the veriest cipher in this beautiful creation? 
Shall he, endowed with a soul, and heir to an im- 
perishable crown of glory, make no effort to raise 
his mind above the level of common pretensions ? 
Shall one or two impediments cause him to turn 
aside from the fount of knowledge, and bask in 
smiles of sycophant pleasures ? A man is not a 
man, in the true sense of the word, unless above 
the paltry discouragements of common life. If one 
path will not lead to the temple of science, another 
will ; and he who girds on the armor of resolution, 
and bravely battles with every difficulty which 
presents itself, is the man that enrolls his name in 
living letters, that coming generations will look up 
to and imitate. Yes, prominent on the scroll of 
true greatness is the name of him who yields not 
to the impediments in his way! Time proves all 
things : though the path may be thorny, the road 
to science is open to those who will walk therein. 
A single grain of sand per day will in time build 
a mountain; and a single step onward, a single 
good action performed each day, will in a lifetime 
give to the world a man to be proud of. 

Let no dark clouds of distrust hover over your 
minds. Remember the watchword, "Work on!" 
and though the blast of adversity may rock your 
tiny bark, and the billows of trouble rise in strength 



Work On. 257 

against you, remember there is, there never can be, 
any true excellence without great exertion. To 
some, the thoughts of a life of toil are any thing 
but agreeable. They wish to excel, but they can- 
not endure the means by which true excellence is 
gained. Their minds have never been fully aroused 
to the beauties of knowledge ; consequently they 
remain as the man in the cellar, desirous of lisht, 
yet too indolent to open the door. Could they be 
great by merely wishing to be, a Washington and 
a Napoleon would be to them as the pigmies to the 
giants. In this world, where "matter of fact" is 
the rule, the indolent find little consolation. In 
many cases their ambition is too boundless to sub- 
mit to the authority of reason. They would 

" Sleep at night, and wake 
To find themselves a king." 

Ambition is a good servant, but a bad master ; and 
when the feverish brain seeks greatness for the 
praise alone, it will elude his grasp. Patience, ye 
fickle-minded dreamers ! "Work on," and hope 
for less. Make your aim a good one, and success 
will smile on your labors. 

One other thought, and I close. "Energy ensures 
success." Without an attendance upon the duties 
devolving upon us in the various pursuits of life, 
we never can arrive at any marked degree of 
eminence. Then I would say to all engaged in 



258 Scholastic Literature. 

the good work of promoting the good of humanity, 
"Work on." Though you may not see the imme- 
diate result of your labors of love, yet generations 
to come will feel the deep impress you leave on 
the minds of the present generation. Then, I say 
to my teachers, "Work on;" the good you are 
doing will be felt in coming time. I say also to 
the minister of the gospel, "Work on;" you are 
to have souls for your hire. I say to you, my 
kind school-mates, "Work on;" make your way up 
the winding ascent to the temple of fame ! 



To-day. 259 



TO-DAY. 

BY ELLA W. PALMER. 

Of all time, to us the most important! We 
first see its approaching in the far-distant east, 
clad in its robes of soft and gentle sunlight. The 
bright visitant, " To-day," approaches. No sound 
of its footsteps fall upon the listening ear, but its 
transcendent glory illuminates the horizon with 
untold splendor. Then we know that it is near. 
We see it approaching by tender and more bril- 
liant steps, casting its tender light through the 
humblest cottage as well as the richest mansion — 
forever generous, making no distinction of high or 
low, rich or poor. Then the great and grand lu- 
minary of the heavens makes his appearance, in 
his grandeur and glory, and all darkness is chased 
away; and now it is pouring upon us its rays of 
noonday splendor, so bright that no eye but the 
eagle's, in his lofty flight, can look upon it. Now 
we have to-day in all its glory. How many hearts 
are now rejoicing that it has come, to cheer them 
up under the despondencies of yesterday! 



260 Scholastic Literature. 

And does it find us strong to battle for the 
right ? To-day is here. Are we ready to enter — 
or rather, have we entered — the field to reap the 
benefit of its presence? If so, let not the night 
come, and find that we have accomplished but 
little or nothing. Shall we let these golden mo- 
ments of time, as they come to us from the benefi- 
cent hands of God, our heavenly Parent, pass us 
by, and be utterly lost? 

To-clay ! Though small the word, yet how sub- 
lime its signification — how small, yet how great! 
To-day yonder sun sheds its light from pole to 
pole — from the snow-capped mountains of the 
North to the farthest sunny South, where the 
fragrance of sweet flowers rises, the evergreen 
blooms, and the musical choristers are ever pour- 
ing forth their sweet sounds of music to cheer the 
heart of man, and from the eastern horizon to the 
wild western forest, where the Indian roams. To- 
day ! I know it finds some weary hearts sad and 
lonely, that but yesternight may have prayed 
God that he might take them to himself — that 
they might not see the sunlight of another day 
until the resurrection morn ; then they will have 
slept and been refreshed, and prepared for an 
eternal to-day, when the great Sun of righteous- 
ness will rise and shine in all his splendor and 
glory; then there will be no more sad hearts, but 
blessed sunshine, that rears so beautiful a foot- 



To-day. 261 

stool for the feet of our Father in heaven. How 
much of good these hands of ours can accomplish 
ere to-day shall have passed us by forever! Yea, 
how much of evil may we do! The field of labor 
is w T ide ; the harvest-time will soon be here. To- 
day, school-mates, we have a work to perform. 
Our minds must be stored with useful knowledge, 
or tares will spring up therein. And we have 
but one to-day at a time to do this work in. We 
have no promise of to-morrow. To-morrow's sun 
may rise and shine, but not on us. Now that we 
have the privileges of to-day, here in this school, 
kind teachers to assist us up the ladder of knowl- 
edge, and kind parents to help us (and there are 
many of us, some just on the first round, some 
farther up, but none of us have reached the top- 
most round), and as time is precious, let us use 
every to-day in such a manner as we shall have 
gained something valuable to ourselves, and to be 
made useful to others. 

Dear friends, to-day you are here witnessing 
the closing performances of our school. Does to- 
day find you in the discharge of all your duty? 
Here is much to be done, and the time is short. 
But look around. There are many sad hearts in 
your midst; there are many orphan children for 
whom there is none to care ; they need to be edu- 
cated, in order that they may be good and useful; 
and as you receive all you have from the benefi- 



262 Scholastic Literature. 

cent hand of God, and as he unlocks the store- 
house of heaven, and supplies you with every 
needed good, should you not unlock your hearts 
and purses, and supply their every want? The 
teachers cannot do all. They are ready and wil- 
ling to do their part. How many sad hearts may 
you to-day make glad! To-day there is much 
that might be done. Many tears might be wiped 
from sorrow's weeping eye, many oppressed hearts 
might be made light and free. Who would not 
to-day — not to-morrow — engage in such a work ? 

" To-morrow — who says to-morrow still is mine, 
As if his eyes could peer 
Through the thick mists of future time, 
And trace out life's career?" 



Mother, Home, and Heaven. 263 



MOTHER, HOME, AND HEAVEN. 

BY MAGGIE HUNTER. 

There are not three words to be found, in any 
language, that have more meaning connected with 
them, or bring more consolation and joy to the 
heart of man, than these; not on account of the 
euphony of sound produced on the ear, but from 
the soul - stirring emotions produced by them. 
We will take them separately and connectively. 
"Mother!" the name dear to all — the name 
spoken by Christ when expiring on the cross — 
she who is firmest and truest in love to man ! If 
there be one earthly feeling free from selfishness, 
or the impurities of human nature, it is a mother's 
disinterested, chaste, unwearied love, which speaks 
in its silent breathings of its celestial or heavenly 
origin. The name of "mother" is childhood's 
refuge, shield, and safeguard. 'Tis the first word 
that falls from the prattling tongue, the first idea 
that dawns upon reason. The mother watches 
over helpless infancy with the benignity of a 
guardian angel, and that love follows through 



264 Scholastic Literature. 

every avenue of life. When the little boat is 
launched upon the great sea of life, who gazes 
with so much earnestness and solicitude, amidst 
conflicting hopes and fears, as a mother? The 
firmest, the fondest, and most durable tie in which 
affection can bind the heart, is a mother's love. 
'Tis not a momentary feeling of yesterday or to- 
day, but is ever the same, and unchangeable; it is 
independent and self-existent, enduring while life 
animates the breast in which it is fostered; and if 
there be anything connected with mortality which 
continues beyond the grave, surely this noble, this 
God-given passion will never perish. 'Tis a prin- 
ciple that emanated from Heaven, implanted in 
the breast of woman for the wisest and most glo- 
rious purposes. While to her it is a most sacred 
pleasure, 'tis a blessing to her offspring. 'Tis 
not excited by beautiful form nor features, or de- 
pending upon circumstances for permanency; but 
when the welfare or happiness of that object is at 
stake, it knows nothing of fear or weariness. Ab- 
sence cannot lessen or diminish a mother's love, 
neither can vice destroy it. While she gazes with 
delight upon the noonday splendor of a life of 
virtue, and looks upon virtue as man's true no- 
bility, yet that love follows in the lowest depth 
of degradation; and as the vine, with its caress- 
ing tendrils, twines itself more and more closely 
around the blasted oak, so a mother's love clings 



Mother, Home, and Heaven. 265 

to her erring child. How few appreciate that 
love, and meditate upon its depths, or seek to re- 
pay it, until that mother sleeps within the narrow 
limits of the tomb, and they are left to tread 
life's thorny path, unshielded and unguarded by a 
mother's counsels and her prayers ! 

" What return, then, can I make ? 
This fond heart, dear mother, take ; 
Thine it is, in word and thought — 
Thine by constant kindness bought.'* 

Dear school-mates — you who may enjoy a 
mother's love — learn to place a proper estimate 
upon that love while you may. 

It is the light of home — 

" Home, where woman's voice flows forth in song, 
And childhood's tale is told, 
Or lips move tunefully along 
Some glorious page of old." 

What is home? where is it? 'Tis our place of 
residence while sojourning here; 'tis that spot 
most dear, most sacred of all others on earth to 
man; home, where clusters the fondest recollec- 
tion of memory; home, where the light of exist- 
ence first flashed upon the spirit immortal, where 
the heart's purest affections love to linger. Home 
is not dear to the child alone, but to the aged and 
infirm. Ask that old father of threescore and ten 
12 



266 Scholastic Literature. 

years what j)lace on earth he loves most ; he an- 
swers, with a trembling voice : "Ah ! the fireside 
of my dear old home is the place for me ! " Ask 
the orphan, who has buried father and mother, 
and is cast upon the charities of a cold-hearted 
world, whose face bespeaks a sad heart and dis- 
contented mind, "Why those looks of sadness?" 
The answer is : " I have no spot in all the wide 
world that I may claim as my home." Jhe trav- 
eler who has long been absent, and is tossed 
amidst the wide ocean waves, often turns his 
thoughts, with longings and pleasing anticipations, 
to the hour when he shall have reached the spot 
most dear to memory. Wherever that place is 
situated beneath the azure vault of heaven — if 
amidst the cold, gleaming ice-fields of Greenland, 
or beneath Italy's genial, cerulean sky — whether 
a palace that the king might admire, or an humble 
cottage, still there is no place like home. Pollok 
describes his home as being the brightest spot on 
earth. 

Home, does man love thee? Yea, at the men- 
tion of thy name the Roman soldier forgets his 
country's limits, and the glory of her eagles. The 
brave one, rushing proudly to the conflict, drops 
the weapons of warfare, and stops to stir the 
leaves of memory, and think on thee. The sailor- 
boy starts from his dreams on the tremulous ocean 
waves, ere the floating palace goes down amid the 



Mother ', Home, and Heaven. 267 

fathomless coral waves. Home is the Eden of 
earth. But what shall we say of heaven ? Where 
is it, and what is it ? We must say, in the lan- 
guage of the mother to the inquiring child: 

" Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy, 
Ear hath not heard its deep sounds of joy. 
Dreams nor imagination cannot picture a world so fair. 
Death and sorrow can never, never enter there. 
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom, 
Beyond the clouds and beyond the tomb." 

Heaven is said to be both a place and a state. 
'Tis said that the Jews considered the region of 
the air, clouds, and winds, as the first heaven; 
and the place which the heavenly bodies occupy 
as the second; and where God, Christ, and holy 
angels dwell, as the third and invisible heaven. 
The language, " heaven of heavens," is to be 
found in the Scriptures. It seems that the opin- 
ion has always prevailed, and is also fully con- 
firmed by the Scriptures, that there is a place in 
the universe where God's presence is made mani- 
fest in all his glory. It is represented as a "city 
which hath foundations, whose maker and builder 
is God." We read of its jasper walls, and the 
streets that are paved with gold. Jerusalem and 
Babylon sink into utter nothingness when com- 
pared with this glorious city. 

" We have heard of that sun-bright clime, 
Undimmed by sorrow, and unhurt by time, 



268 Scholastic Literature. 

Where age hath no power o'er the fadeless frame, 
Where the eye is fire and the heart is flame. 
A thousand forms are hovering o'er 
The dazzling wave and the golden shore." 

*T is enough ! All that philosophy ever dreamed, 
or poetry ever imagined, center here. When shall 
I awake, to find mother and home in heaven? 



How Powerful is Sympathy! 269 



HOW POWERFUL IS SYMPATHY! 

BY JOSIE DARNALL. 

God implanted in the human breast this noble 
principle for beneficent purposes. Not a sigh is 
heard, not a tear is shed, not a groan felt, except 
for some noble purpose. We shall only notice the 
exhibition of sympathy as connected with the hu- 
man family. To enable us to ascertain how pow- 
erful any emotion is, we often have to notice in 
detail its effects, and therefore we call your atten- 
tion to this subject under this head. 

Let us recur to scenes that occurred only a 
few years ago, when we saw friends parting with 
friends, leaving the land of their birth, and start- 
ing to the far West, seeking a new home in the 
midst of the western wilds. See the newly-mar- 
ried taking the parting hand with parents, broth- 
ers, and sisters; see their streaming eyes, see the 
quivering lips, as they utter the final word, "Fare- 
well;" feel the parental grasp of the hand of that 
gray-headed father and mother, bent over under 
the load of declining years. They part, but only 



270 Scholastic Literature. 

temporarily; they are Christians, and hope, through 
the mercies of a kind Providence, to meet in that 
"city that hath foundations, whose builder and 
maker is God." 

Agaiu, another scene of sympathy seems to 
crowd itself on our minds — we mean some of the 
occasions that were witnessed during the terrible 
struggle through which our country has lately 
passed. We have seen as brave young men as 
ever were enrolled among the Spartan band, bid 
adieu for the last time, to make their homes in the 
tented field, to drive back an invading foe, and to 
defend the rights that our revolutionary fathers 
bequeathed to us. As they started, hear the 
heaving sighs, and see the trickling tears falling 
from the eyes of all, both old and young; and 
after the appointed day of battle comes, and we 
hear the distant roaring of the cannon — as on the 
fatal day of Murfreesboro, where many of our 
friends fell, to rise no more till the last day — 
then what deep mourning was experienced by 
many mothers for their suffering sons ! Our feel- 
ings dictate to us to leave these terrific and war- 
like scenes. 

Once more turn your attention, for a few mo- 
ments, to the sympathy manifested by the mother 
leaning over a sick or dying child. See her 
around its bedside, with the midnight lamp, when 
all but her are sleeping, watching its quivering 



How Powerful is Sympathy! 271 

lips, observing its dancing eyes under the writh- 
ings of pain ; see her wipe from its fevered brow 
the dampened moisture; note well how often she 
utters the sympathetic words, "God bless your 
little soul ! " making, at the same time, kisses on 
its darling cheek. Finally, death ensues; the 
spirit is borne by angels to a world of bliss, and 
yet the mother lingers around the cold clay until 
it is placed in mother earth. But cheer up, 
broken-hearted mother ! the separation is only for 
a few days; time's withering blasts will soon cut 
you down, and your freed spirit will join with 
kindred spirits on high, and in the resurrection 
those bodies, sown in corruption, will be raised 
incorruptible. 

There is only one other feeling of sympathy 
that we think will excel this just described, and 
that is God's sympathy for fallen man. The 
blessed Bible teaches us that God so loved the 
world that he gave up his only Son to die, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
might have everlasting life. 

In conclusion, let us, my dear school-mates, 
drop a tear of sympathy, as we part asunder to- 
night. The strong chain of sympathy has bound 
us together for five months. Let us each remem- 
ber that one bright link from our chain of affec- 
tion has been snatched away; but her remem- 
brance is ever present with us, and while she is 



272 Scholastic Literature. 

not here to participate in these earthly exercises, 
she shines in angelic majesty in the world of 
glory. Let us all be guided by the sympathy 
that filled the Saviour's breast, and, when we are 
done with toils and troubles on earth, we will en- 
joy heaven above. 



Tempus Perditam. 273 



TEMPUS PERDITUM. 

BY F. B. FISHER. 

Cum Jehovah in magistatem ejus potestatis dis- 
pulit rudem obscuritatem, et dixit creationem in 
essentiam, turn tempus nascatur. Tempus proles 
antiquse eternitatis, destinatum peregrinari donee 
omnia creationa negotia liquefaciunt in rudem unde 
orsa sunt et ille in lapsu seculorum adjungit denuo 
alius antiquem parentem. Dies, menses, et anni 
computant essentiam et quisque tulit ejus testorem 
throno Dei adversus omnem rationalem et intelli- 
gentem essentiam ut vivit et movet in spatio 
terrse. Seepe horis balsaminse quietis cum blanda 
memoria revocat transactum et spes tribuit futurum 
cum multa lamia scena optamus rotas temporis 
festinare eorum fugam et ferre aliquam nondum 
natum felicitatem ut phantasma sola novabat. At 
si homo delinquebat pendere sensum cuj usque 
horse solum in opportunitatibus quietis cura et 
anxietate, quid multo minus ille esset rationus ad 
ilium Deum adquem mille anni vident ut dies et 
dies ut mille anni? At heu! ab tumulis sepul- 
12* 



274 Scholastic Literature. 

crorum aetatorum audimus lamentabilem pulsum 
profecti temporis ut volvit ad oceanum eternitatis 
onerum cum minis ejus vastati itineris. Homo 
volat ab tempore et tempus ab homine et statim 
in molestatem repudium haec duplex fuga finat. 
Et finita quid breva, quid similis somno nostrorum 
mediorum noctorum somniorum, vix recordata cum 
aurora excitat. Si figurates cineres profectorum 
dixissent quas solemnes appellationes dixissent 
ad nos proficere quidquam momentum ut id volat 
et relinquere nullum indoctum. Varise quidem 
sunt vise et causae quo essentia est redita nihilum 
hie, tempore et eternitate cursus ut cognoscit 
nullum longitudinum aut latitudinem, nullum 
altitudinem aut profundum ad ejus durationem. 
Id est moralem veritatem ut omnes homines qui 
vivint sibi solis neglecti inopium aliorum et eorum 
altitudines mandates ad eorum creatorem sunt 
interfectores temporis et statent et steterint con- 
vie ti ad altum forum coeli. Id cap ere t nullum 
longum comitatum philosophi rationis, ducere, fac- 
tum ut lamentum calamitatis quid orsum est per- 
petuo ab quaque habitabile parte creationis debet 
ejus causam ad multa vita consequentia in vitem 
non indignitem ab valore temporis et veris venire. 
Haec natalis sequalitas et negligentia tulerunt in 
terra majoram sideratiorem imprecationem quam 
ssevus turbo purgata pestilentia aut clamor cly- 
pei et hastse in cruentum agrum Martis. Cura 



Time Destroyed. 275 

et diligentia reparent injurias efFectas furioso com- 
motione cseloruin ; niedicus vincet et sanaret san- 
guinia vulnera laceri militis sed qui luat ad vitani 
profusam aut quis revocat et vivat iterum dies 
menses et annos, qui semel erant, sed sunt nunc 
prateriti ad ilium locum quo eternitas incipit. 



[Translation.] 

TIME DESTROYED 



BY H. W. RONE. 



When Jehovah, in the majesty of his power, 
dispelled chaotic gloom, and spoke creation into 
existence, then Time was born — Time, the off- 
spring of old Eternity, destined to voyage on 
until all created material things dissolve again 
into chaos, from whence they sprang, and he, in 
the lapse of ages, joins anew his ancient parent. 
Days, months, and years compute existence, and 
each bears its record to the throne of God against 
every rational and intelligent being that lives and 
moves upon the face of the earth. Oft in the 
hours of balmy ease, when sweet remembrance 
recalls the past, and hope gilds the future with 



276 Scholastic Literature. ' 

many a fairy scene, we wish the wings of time to 
speed their flight, and bring some unborn bliss 
that fancy only knew. But did man fail to weigh 
the importance of each hour only in seasons of 
repose from care and anxiety, how much less 
would he be accountable to that God to whom a 
thousand years seem as a day, and a day as a 
thousand years! But hark! from the tombs of 
buried ages we hear the doleful knell of depart- 
ing Time, as he rolls on toward the ocean of eter- 
nity, fraught with the ruins of his desolating 
march. Man flies from time, and time from man, 
and soon in sad divorce this double flight must 
end; and, ended, how short — how like a dream 
of midnight slumbers, scarcely remembered when 
dawn awakes ! Could the moldering ashes of the 
departed speak, what solemn appeals would they 
address to us, to improve each moment as it flies, 
and to leave none unimproved ! Various, indeed, 
are the ways and means by which existence is 
rendered a nullity here in time and eternity — a 
course that knows no length or breadth, no height 
or depth to its duration. It is a moral truth that 
all men who live for themselves, disregarding the 
wants and woes of others, and their high behest 
for their Creator, are murderers of time, and must 
and will stand convicted before the high court of 
Heaven. It would take no long train of philo- 
sophic reasoning to deduce the fact that the wail 



Time Destroyed. 277 

of woe which arises from every habitable part of 
creation owes its origin to the many vices and 
crimes consequent upon a life unimproved by the 
value of time and realities to come. This natural 
indifference and unconcern have brought upon the 
world a more blasting influence than the fierce 
tornado, the sweeping pestilence, or the clash of 
spear and shield upon the bloody field of Mars. 
Care and industry may repair the injuries caused 
by the wild commotion of heaven; the physician 
may bind up and heal the bleeding wounds of the 
mangled soldier; but who can atone for a life mis- 
spent? or who can recall and live again days, 
months, and years that once were, but are now 
gone to where eternity begins? 



278 Scholastic Literature. 



VALEDICTORY. 

BY TALITHA J. McCORD. 

I find that language is but a faint instrument 
when we wish to give full expression to our 
thoughts — that, plate over the phraseology as we 
may, and smooth it into whatever shape we will, 
it is still cold and lifeless ; and the tongue, no mat- 
ter how solicitous for words, is but an empty 
beggar when called upon for utterance. Pleasure 
has an understanding, but no tongue. This truth 
rises before me now, when my heart is an easy 
captive to the softer emotions of my nature. The 
parting hour has come. The chain of association 
that bound us together must soon be broken. 
The spirit that is entwined around our hearts, and 
which springs so active — the love for education — 
has for the past six months linked us together as 
a band of brothers and sisters, and the day has 
dawned that we must part, perhaps forever. No 
longer can we amuse ourselves together in the 
spring-time of life and childish happiness; no 
longer can we hear the tap of the bell that invites 



Valedictory. 279 

us to the pleasant halls of instruction. Other 
societies, other scenes, and other duties, await us. 
We must part ; but parting will only draw closer 
the ties of affection that bind us together. The 
noonday's sun and blush of evening, which have 
so often smiled upon us and witnessed our social 
conversation and joys, will still remind us of the 
scenes that have passed. Yes, when you return 
to your respective homes, you will feel the warm 
welcome of a mother's lip, and hear the music of 
a sister's rejoicing heart. The remembrance of 
things which we forget will commingle thoughts 
of associations with the happy themes of home 
and loved ones. Yes, Fame, with a jeweled hand, 
may wave us upward, and empty thrones may be 
seen in our paths, and our names may be half cut 
on the arch of honor, through which a stair of 
stars may lead to immortality; still we will turn 
and look back to the royal feeling of this hour, 
and I believe it is worse than vanity for me to 
attempt to more fully attract your attention, or 
firmly fix your thoughts upon the uprising im- 
pulse of this hour. My lips might utter words 
full of sentiment, and be crimsoned with the life- 
blood of feeling, but I would not anticipate a 
single drop to reach your hearts. I will therefore 
not dissolve the fascinations of the hour by an 
apparition of words; bat, as a parting admoni- 
tion, I will earnestly entreat you to cultivate the 



280 Scholastic Literature. 

pure affections of the soul, that will elevate every 
impulsive feeling and throb of the heart to that 
standard which will be made the test to the privi- 
lege of a blissful existence beyond the grave; for 
I feel assured that if we have learned all that 
can be learned, have mastered every language and 
science, all will be vanity unless we have that 
heavenly culture of the mind that approximates 
to the goodness of the great first cause. With 
this admonition, I bid you adieu. As teachers and 
school-mates, you are endeared to me by strong 
and lasting ties. As a representative of the fe- 
male department of the school, permit me, re- 
spected teachers, to return to you those heart-felt 
thanks and gratitude you have so justly won by 
your untiring energy and zealous interest in our 
advancement and welfare; and to you, beloved 
companions in the common cause of education, I 
assure you I will ever hold sacred the recollec- 
tions of our sweet intercourse, that closes with 
the hour of separation that now approaches, and 
I would fain prolong the utterance of that word, 
"Farewell;" but even in its breathing a spirit 
rises up, and, with its arms twined around the 
neck of its future, prays that we may all meet 
again; and to this prayer I say, "Amen, amen!" 



Valedictory. 281 



VALEDICTORY. 

BY R. B. MAXEY. 

"All that's bright must fade, 

The brightest still the fleetest ; 
All that's sweet was made 
But to be lost when sweetest." 

Yes, the sweetest song must break in whispers 
low; the fairest flowers must fade and die; the 
brightest hue must have its waking dire; so now 
we come to breathe that burning word, "Fare- 
well," for Fate stays not the flashing courses, or 
lulls to sleep the wild paeans of his laureled vic- 
tories. Six long months, with their glories and 
disappointments, their magic joys and hidden woes, 
have died away 'mid the shadows of the past. 
Laughing spring, decked with the dew-drops of 
beauty, with its flowery meads and gurgling 
streams, its sweet associations and delightful 
scenes, have come and gone like some strong 
dream of love, since we entered this school, which 
now hastens to its termination. • 

Though difficulties at times may have attended 



282 Scholastic Literature. 

us, and success appeared dubious, yet we reck 
not of this; for happiness, like a magic wreath, 
has ever clustered around our youthful exertions, 
and pleasures bright have danced in every somber 
wave. Our intercourse has been sweet indeed, 
and to our connection with the Lewisburg Insti- 
tute we will ever recur with deepest emotions of 
delight, and 'mid the wild "bivouac" of life, mem- 
ory, fond and strange as the zephyr's song, shall 
wander back to the loved associations, like flicker- 
ing moonbeams o'er departed beauty, while strains 
as sweet as the music of the spheres shall break 
their long, deep sleep, and sweep, in wildest mel- 
ody, the eternal caverns of the soul. 

During the brief period we have been connected 
with this school, our constant aim has been both 
to obey our teachers and gain useful knowledge; 
and with warm and impassionate hearts, whose 
every pulse beats in unison for its welfare, we en- 
tered the conflict to battle for knowledge. Like 
the voice which thrilled the battle-gleaming hosts 
of old, "Excelsior" has ever been our watchword, 
and success, bright and glorious, the sacred Mecca 
toward which we have ever bent our untiring en- 
ergies. And well may we use diligence and en- 
ergy; for although it is generally conceded that 
education is of great value, I must say that many, 
very many, though of mature years, are in their 
childhood as to a real knowledge of its value. 



Valedictory. 283 

Let us notice some of the blessings of educa- 
tion. Education is a companion which no misfor- 
tune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy 
can alienate, no despotism enslave. At home a 
friend; abroad an introduction; in solitude a so- 
lace; in society an ornament. Yes, we might 
refer to some of our Southern patriots and heroes, 
and where are they — the noble Robert E. Lee, 
Joseph E. Johnson, and others, whose names will 
ever be cherished by those of the South who 
were devoted to the cause of Southern rights and 
liberty? Some may think that those men only 
acquired character by their military achievements, 
and were not known before the great revolution 
which has passed over us. But not so. The for- 
mer — Robert E. Lee — who now ; I believe, has 
charge of the Washington College, Virginia, is a 
man of highest learning and accomplishments. 
His name is used now as an honor in almost all 
the schools of any note South. Yes, though he 
may be living obscure from all the public halls of 
the Government, and though that sword which a 
few years ago glittered in his hand, and seemed 
to bespeak him champion of war, was wrenched 
from his hand, yet he is not dispossessed of his 
greatness; he still retains his noble intellect and 
intelligence, which he at one time labored for, just 
as we are laboring to acquire knowledge. I men- 
tion these men, not through any sectional feeling, 



284 Scholastic Literature. 

but that we, as students, may be encouraged. 
Though we may be dispossessed of all else, still, 
if we have an education, we yet have something 
sufficient to make us happy and useful. 

Young men of this Institute, to-day ends our 
scholastic connection with this Institute, so far as 
the present session is concerned. We are now 
about to be dispersed, to mingle with our parents 
and acquaintances in the different vicinities in 
which we reside. We will necessarily be thrown 
into various circles of society. Let us so act our 
part in the great drama of life, that we can secure 
the confidence of the good and pious. Each one 
of us has a part to perform upon the great stage 
of the world's theatrical movements, and our per- 
sonal happiness, our individual promotion, depends 
upon the manner in which we acquit ourselves. 
Therefore, let our course be onward up the hill of 
science; let us strive after excellency in every 
thing in which we engage. My fellow-students, 
let us not be contented to gather a few of the 
scattered laurels that perchance may lie around 
the base of the hill of science, but with rapid 
strides scale its culminating summit, and pluck en 
masse the wreath of laurels that hangs suspended 
from its ambrosial tops. In our journey through 
the world, we will find that life, at best, is a bil- 
lowy tide, whose ebbing and flowing many times 
bring destruction and devastation. So while our 



Valedictory. 285 

life-boats are stemming the current, we may ex- 
pect to meet with many seemingly insurmount- 
able difficulties. We perhaps will sometimes im- 
agine that our wavering bark will be submerged 
in the towering waves of life's troubles ; and, on 
the other hand, we doubtless will meet with many 
pleasant scenes consequent to life, and often feast 
ourselves upon earthly and unreal enjoyments. 
But alas! these are fading treasures — like the 
swift-shooting meteor, soon gone. Therefore, while 
we are in the morning of life, let us strive to ac- 
quire for ourselves something more lasting and 
elevating to nature than mere sensual and present 
happiness. Our happiness in this life and the life 
to come is in a great measure placed in our own 
hands. By our individual efforts we can gain the 
affections of the pious, and, by submitting to the 
requirements of Heaven, we can realize the ap- 
probation of the Deity. 

It is necessary, then, not only to cultivate our- 
selves as earthly beings, or for usefulness on 
earth, but to cultivate an acquaintance with our 
spiritual wants and necessities. Companions in 
school, let us not, in our separation from each 
other and from the consecrated walls of our Insti- 
tute, carry away with us feelings of anger or re- 
venge housed up in our bosoms — feelings that 
may have arisen up from the impulse of the mo- 
ment. Let these feelings, if any there be, for- 



286 Scholastic Literature. 

ever be effaced from our memory; bury tliem be- 
neath the waves of oblivion; let them be num- 
bered with the things that were. Young men, 
there is a broad field out before us, in which we 
may become useful and efficient members of so- 
ciety, and exert an influence upon our associates 
that will amply reward us for all our efforts. Let 
us shrink not back because we are not the sons 
of the opulent or wealthy fathers of the country. 
It is not unfrequently the case that persons pov- 
erty-stricken are only the better prepared to climb 
the rugged hill of science than those more favor- 
ably situated, in a pecuniary sense; such are more 
apt to study their own interest, and act their parts 
well. 

Dear teachers, 

"We ne'er can you repay 
For your earnest toil, bestowed from day to day, 
But within our inmost hearts shall burn 
Gratitude in return." 

Though all of you were strangers to me when we 
met a few months ago, still the chain of affection 
that binds my heart to you has grown so strong 
that the pang of parting falls upon my soul with 
bitter surges. May you all continue in the good 
work in which you have been engaged; may suc- 
cess crown your every endeavor to implant the 
truths of virtue and science in the minds of many, 
and may happiness strew your pathway with rar- 



Valedictory. 287 

est flowers; the Lord be your companion through 
life and death, and heaven, with its ineffable de- 
lights, your abiding-place! 

Dearly loved school-mates, with a heart o'er- 
flowing with sorrow I now turn to bid you a long 
" Farewell." To this event we have looked for- 
ward with fondest hopes and brightest anticipa- 
tions; but alas, how sad the realization! We 
had not counted the strength of the links that 
bind our hearts together. For months we have 
been united as a band of loving associates. I 
have mingled in your joys and shared your every 
grief; where your eyes were dimmed with sor- 
rows, mine were moistened with the dew of sym- 
pathy ; when you smiled, my face assumed a joy- 
ous expression. Side by side, within the walls 
of the Lewisburg Institute, we have sought the 
pearls of science. may you never let them 
become tarnished by the rust of time, or soiled 
by the dust of forgetfulness ; but may you perse- 
vere in the field of education, and ornament your 
mental caskets with many other precious jewels ! 
If during our intercourse we have marred vour 
happiness, we beg you pardon us; forgive the 
error past, and ever cherish us in your memories. 

" Forgive, forget, we are wisely told, 
Is held a maxim, good and old ; 
But half the maxim's better yet. 
Then O 'forgive,' but don't 'forget.'" 



288 Scholastic Literature. 

Ever remember it is educated mind, not matter, 
that controls the world. While laboring to culti- 
vate your minds, neglect not the cultivation of 
your hearts ; so when Christ shall come to make 
up his jewels, you may be transferred to Eden's 
blissful shore, where sad partings are no more. 



Literary Address. 289 



LITERARY ADDRESS. 

BY T. F. LEWIS. 

Before proceeding with the remarks I shall or 
had designed to make, I must be permitted to 
premise that, after somewhat an intellectual feast 
to which we have been treated by the young 
ladies and gentlemen during the exercises which 
they have passed through, I think it exceedingly 
questionable whether I shall be able to add any 
thins; to what has been said or done that will in- 
terest either them or the audience. But however 
this may be, at the instance of the worthy Prin- 
cipal and students of the Institute, I propose to 
occupy a few moments of your time; and as a 
basis for the remarks I shall make, I propose the 
following subject: "The times, and the uses to 
which they should be applied." I have not se- 
lected this subject as the basis for a literary ad- 
dress with a view to adhere to the text, but 
rather — after the manner of Montaigne, the great- 
est of all essayists — as the starting-point whence 



290 Scholastic Literature. 

to proceed and elaborate some ideas thought to 
be appropriate to the occasion. 

The circumstances surrounding some of those, 
at least, who fill the various vocations in life, 
when they closed their scholastic course, are es- 
sentially different from the circumstances which 
surround those now in the colleges, institutes, and 
schools of the country. Then peace, happiness, 
and prosperity greeted the scholar at the door of 
his "Alma Mater." Every profession, pursuit, 
and vocation offered the most powerful stimulus 
to ambition, energy, and enterprise. Industry 
met its sure reward; labor yielded its abundant 
harvest; and well-founded hope, sustained by pru- 
dence and discretion, always ended in fruition. 
The bustling city, teeming with its industrious 
population, was radiant with the smile of content. 
The husbandman drove his team afield, and went 
singing to his daily toil, conscious that rich har- 
vests would reward his industry. The mariner 
spread his canvas on every sea, and fortune fol- 
lowed in the wake of his vessel. Splendid cities 
arose in the West, ere the track of the Indian had 
been erased from the soil; while a beneficent and 
generous government, proud of its past traditions, 
its present power, and promises of future glory, 
protected its citizens, stimulated ambition, fos- 
tered genius, encouraged enterprise, and guaran- 
teed to all its teeming millions every just right, 



Literary Address. 291 

privilege, and immunity claimed or desired. But 
in an evil hour the fountains of the great political 
deep were broken up, and this fair land of promise 
was deluged in fraternal blood; the myth Pan- 
dora eventuated in reality, and when all the evils 
were turned loose, not even hope remained to 
cheer our unfortunate people, and sage and sophist 
agreed that peace had taken her relentless flight. 

Those who participated in this, the mightiest 
of tragedies, are marked with the mark of Cain ; 
so that whithersoever they may go up and down 
the country once and now their own, may say 
nor do any thing as they list; while tyrants, 
trampling upon the graves of thousands — yea, 
millions — and whose foul deeds smell to heaven, 
disgrace the seats which patriots once so nobly 
and so proudly honored. We are to-day strug- 
gling and emerging from those scenes of the past; 
and although we see and feel their effects, the fu- 
ture is before us, with the hope that our country, 
ourselves, and the rising generation, will yet be as 
happy and as prosperous as in the better days of 
the past. 

Let us turn our attention from war and civil 
strife to the cultivation of those virtues which 
alone make a people great. In the religious, sci- 
entific, literary, moral, and industrial pursuits 
alone rest the future hopes of our country. By 
giving all our energy to these, w T e may make our 



292 Scholastic Literature. 

very misfortunes a stepping-stone to future great- 
ness, as it is in the school of adversity that men 
learn their longest lessons of wisdom. Adversity 
purifies the mind, morals, and ambition; it tem- 
pers patience, fortitude, and courage; and from it 
have sprung, Pallus-like, full -panoplied for the 
conflict, all the great men and women who have 
been the benefactors of their race. All the great 
men and things which Athens still lives to boast 
germinated in the purer days of adversity; while 
the pampered and voluptuous who wielded her 
destinies in the hour of her apparent glory, sowed 
the seeds which speedily accomplished her ruin. 
Compare the deeds of our forefathers, who fought 
for and knew the price of liberty, with those men 
who live in the present generation, and we have 
the evidence that we, too, may fall, as did the men 
of Greece and Rome. And, young gentlemen and 
ladies, while the pride and hope of those who have 
arrived at middle age and passed beyond, and the 
hopes of your generation, and those that may fol- 
low, are vested in you, remember there is no ex- 
cellence without labor, no proficiency without 
study, no success without the proper means are 
used to accomplish it. 

Men and women are not born with matured in- 
tellects, and memory well stored with all requisite 
information; they do not spring, like Minerva 
from the brain of Jove, full-fledged, and arrayed 



Literary Address. 293 

for the great conflict of life; but the mind is a 
blank — not even a character is legible upon its 
smooth surface, and withal possessed of less in- 
stinct than all the rest of the animal kingdom be- 
sides. And thus it is, by wise provision of Deity, 
left exclusively with each individual to work out 
his own destiny — to cultivate, enlarge, beautify, 
and adorn his own mind; and this will be exactly 
in proportion to the amount of determination, en- 
ergy, and industry brought into requisition; and 
in the same proportion will be your power, influ- 
ence, and usefulness, both to yourselves and to 
your country. This labor must be, in the very 
nature of things, mental, moral, and physical : 
physical, so that the mental and moral may have 
sufficient vitality to sustain them; moral, so that 
the mental and physical may have an arbiter be* 
tween them ; and mental, the presiding genius of 
the whole. 

Men in all the undertakings of life are success- 
ful in proportion to the amount of labor they be- 
stow upon themselves. We know of no exception 
to the rule. The man who, from his infancy up, 
devoted his whole energies to the development of 
this threefold nature by working on the material 
within himself, and making all the surroundings 
tributary to his wants, never fails, never becomes 
a burden to himself, or a stigma upon his race ; 
but, on the contrary, is honored by his craft, re- 



294 Scholastic Literature. 

spected by liis enemies, and is always a leader in 
his pursuits, however great or however small they 
may be. All the great men who have lived in 
every ag§ of the world, as statesmen, soldiers, 
philanthropists, historians, and poets, were men 
of industrious and laborious habits; all the men 
who have lived as reformers, moralists, and phi- 
losophers, have marked their way through the 
most insuperable difficulties. But while men of 
labor have been the benefactors of their race, they 
have lived in history, and have been deified by 
posterity. Where are the countless millions of 
whose names, deeds, and history we do not read? 
The story may be epitomized in two words: 
"Dead — forgotten." So literally, and we might 
add, so awfully true is this, that error, vice, and 
all species of crime and immorality, aided, abetted, 
and sustained by their determined and laborious 
votaries, have invaded the precincts of the last 
virtue and morality, and overcome them, and 
planted their hateful banner upon the proud walls 
of truth and righteousness. 

Of all this, Mohammedanism is an illustration 
in religion; something connected with the history 
of our country during the war of the past few 
years, in politics; while it is demonstrated by in- 
cidents in every-day life coming under the obser- 
vation of every one. 

But of all the acquisitions for which men labor 



Literary Address. 295 

as primary objects, only one is worth the effort, 
and that is knowledge. By this we intend a ge- 
neric meaning, comprehending judgment, under- 
standing, learning, and every thing by which the 
minds of men make other minds, and all mutually 
subservient to their wishes. Wealth takes to itself 
the wings of the morning, and is gone forever; 
the patriot's glory often becomes the traitor's 
lamentation, and distinction generates into noto- 
riety; but no adversity can drive from us the 
genial influence of knowledge. It opens up a 
brilliant future for the youth, illuminates the path 
of mankind, cheers up decrepit old age, and robs 
death of half its terrors. Whatsoever things are 
beautiful, whatsoever things are grand, whatso- 
ever things are sublime, are found locked up in 
the walls of her sacred temple. 

To the acquisition of this, then, young ladies 
and gentlemen, all the energy and resources of 
your nature should be employed, and to the ac- 
complishment of this end often your resolution to 
labor has been formed. There is no one thing of 
so much practical importance, either in school or 
out of it. By this we mean to so study any and 
every thing you undertake, that you may thor- 
oughly comprehend it, so that what you study 
becomes so thoroughly digested and matured that, 
instead of being information, it becomes estab- 
lished knowledge, indifferent where the ideas come 



296 Scholastic Literature. 

from, while it is part and parcel of our own mind 
or intellect. 

Any thing which is retained in the mind by a 
mere tenacity of the memory — as the recollection 
of a number of figures, without knowing circum- 
stantially the uses to which they should be or 
were applied — is a mere appendage of and burden 
to the mind, of which it had best be rid. But 
those ideas which have been gleaned from others, 
and have been so thoroughly analyzed and ma- 
tured that they become identified with our own 
ideas, enlarge and expand the mind, and enable 
us to acquire a knowledge of other things with 
great facility, and use them with greater advan- 
tage. And, after reflection, I am led to conclude 
that in this one idea exists the great stumbling- 
block in the way of an overwhelming majority of 
those literary, professional, and scientific gentle- 
men who have so signally failed in their aims, 
ambitions, and hopes. 

This idea I will illustrate by referring to the 
fact that in the colleges, institutes, and schools of 
the country, we frequently find students studying 
the dead languages, the higher branches of mathe- 
matics and moral sciences, who were profoundly 
ignorant of the elementary principles -of our Eng- 
lish education; or figuring away in geometry and 
astronomy, when they could not calculate the in- 
terest on a promissory note with partial payments, 



Literary Address. 297 

or give you the contents of a bond; elaborating 
the abstruse theories of Upham, when they can- 
not tell the latitude of Washington City, or the 
longitude of their own home ; and reading Homer 
and Tacitus, when they cannot analyze a simple 
sentence in the English language; and in six 
months after they have received their diplomas, 
cannot repeat the Greek alphabet, or tell you 
whether it w T as of the country that Yirgil spoke 
when he wrote his beautiful Bucolics. Men some- 
times practice law, physic, and politics, teach 
their brethren the mysteries of Deity from the 
pulpit, who had not taken their first lessons in 
syntax, and did not know the difference between 
a substantive and an adverb. 

This idea may be farther illustrated by refer- 
ring to another familiar and oft-repeated occasion 
— that of young graduates at College who, after 
having passed in this way through the prescribed 
course, are so much fuller of their own conceit 
than the lessons they have learned, and imagine 
themselves fully competent to manage the most 
complicated business transactions of life, and that 
it is not necessary for them to study any more. 
May not such young men be regarded as having 
already failed? 

"When these things occur in our midst, what can 
we expect but failure and disappointment? The 
only safe rule is, never to pass on until you have 
13* 



298 Scholastic Literature. 

carefully surveyed the ground you occupy. And 
should these remarks be applicable to any present, 
let them heed the warning, for truth will overtake 
them under far more embarrassing circumstances. 

But while there is no excellence without labor, 
and while inaccuracy in learning is a serious ob- 
stacle in the way of success, there is still another 
adage equally axiomatic — that "labor conquers 
all things ;" that is, by an arduous and continuous 
application, the greatest and most serious difficul- 
ties can and will be overcome. And it not un- 
frequently happens that those things which seem 
to be insuperable, when properly met and leisurely 
investigated, are not only easily overcome, but 
are made the door to some of the noblest treas- 
ures of the mind. 

To a mind sufficiently improved with the power 
and prestige of the human intellect, difficulties are 
but a stimulant to mental energy, zeal, and re- 
sources. Indeed, to so great an extent is this an 
attribute of the mind, that the converse of the 
proposition is true — that is, a mind so unconscious 
of the efficacy of labor, and its own inherent 
weakness, as not to anticipate difficulties, or, an- 
ticipating them, expect to overcome them with- 
out effort, is always stationary — is an incubus 
upon itself, and those who would make progress 
around it. And we may set it down as a truism 
in all the pursuits of life, that that which costs 



Literary Address. 299 

us the greatest amount of labor, anxiety, and 
trouble, profits us most. Cicero says : "Labor 
omnia vincet et labor ipse est voluptas." And 
how beautiful and eloquent is the remark, when 
properly understood, and applied to the every-day 
transactions of life! Man is a creature of habit, 
and if his habits are those of industry and close 
application to business, he will best subserve the 
end for which he was created, and that a life of 
labor and toil will be the source of infinitely more 
pleasure and satisfaction to himself than idleness ; 
for while labor is the concurrent testimony of all 
reflecting minds, the prolific fountain whence flow 
all happiness, pleasure, and usefulness, persistence 
in idleness is the reverse; it always begets pov- 
erty, contempt, infamy, disgrace, and oblivion. 
He who boasts of his life of idleness, or ease and 
luxuries, makes haste to his own depreciation or 
downfall. 

It has ever been a disputed point as to what 
was the source of the greatest amount of evil. 
Some argue intemperance, some gaming, some pro- 
fanity. Our ministers, moralists, and philoso- 
phers declaim with eloquence, and indignation, 
and with a zeal worthy of the theme, against 
those evils; they are, indeed, alarming vices, and 
when we see the monuments of ruin left along 
their track, we are forcibly reminded of some 
great convulsion of Nature, or the ravages of the 



300 Scholastic Literature. 

great scourge of God in his mercy through the 
plains of Italy; but these great and crying evils 
are not original curses, but are themselves only 
effects. It is not intemperance, nor blasphemy, 
nor neighborhood small-talk, that demoralizes com- 
munities, and frightens peace, morality, and virtue 
from the land; but idleness, a want of occupation, 
a lazy indifference for ourselves and those around 
us. 

And now, in conclusion, my young friends, you 
who are struggling to climb the rugged hill of 
science, take heed to the warning, that there is 
no success in any undertaking in life without en- 
ergy and application. The poet has beautifully 
said : 

"Culture's hand 
Has scattered verdure o'er the land, 
And smiles and fragrance rules serene, 
While barren wilds usurped the scene. 
And such is man — a soil which breeds 
Our sweetest flowers or vilest weeds : 
Flowers lovely as the morning light — 
Weeds deadly as an aconite ; 
Just as his heart and mind are trained to bear 
The poisonous weeds or flowerets fair." 



Literary Address. SOI 



LITERARY ADDRESS. 

BY A. M. BURNEY, A.M. 

In compliance with an invitation kindly ex- 
tended to me by my esteemed friend, the worthy 
Principal of your Institute, I appear before you 
to-day to act some humble part in the highly in- 
teresting exercises of the occasion; and as a 
theme appropriate to the occasion, and as one kin- 
dred to the great cause whose brilliant triumphs 
we have witnessed to-day, I bring before you 
"The Dignity of the Profession of Teaching, and 
the Maintenance of Southern Literature." Not 
that I have any egotistical vanity to gratify, or 
pedantic pride of pedagogism to display, in ex- 
tolling the vocation in which I am now and have 
been engaged ; for I assure you that, if there has 
ever been a time in my history when I would in- 
dulge in such fancies, it has ceased to exist. Nor 
is it because I think the profession in need of any 
eulogium or commendation at my hands; for it 
has sufficiently pleaded its own cause, and most 
eloquently vindicated its triumphs, before every 



302 Scholastic Literature. 

intelligent tribunal in every age, land, and clime 
in which the empire of mind has held its majestic 
sway. 

And to-day we behold the broad galaxy of our 
time-honored profession — rising in the East, " the 
source of light," and extending to the zenith and 
West — beset with shining orbs, stars of the first 
magnitude, the greatest lights and most illustrious 
characters that ever graced *the pages of history, 
or adorned the ranks of any profession. The 
names of Plato, Socrates, Gamaliel, Bacon, Locke, 
and Newton, and a host of other illustrious wor- 
thies, conspire to render the profession of teach- 
ing emphatically the most dignified calling and — 
though I come up here, it may be among "law- 
yers and doctors," to say it — the highest human 
avocation on earth. Surely, then, the profession 
that can justly boast of such illustrious patrons 
as these, calls not for a eulogy from my poor 
ability, nor demands a vindication at my hands. 
But I present the subject, on this occasion, be- 
cause I verily believe the necessities of these 
times demand it; because I believe the youth of 
our day do not appreciate the merits of this high 
calling, which has rendered forever immortal the 
names of many of our predecessors. To bring 
back, in contemplation, anew the dignity of so 
noble an avocation, and to stimulate the youth of 
our day to espouse the royal road to true emi- 



Literary Address. 303 

nence, is my purpose in introducing the subject 
on this occasion. 

To you, then, young ladies and young gentle- 
men of Lewisburg and vicinity, is my mission di- 
rected to-day. The status of these venerable, 
gray-haired ones who surround you, eager to wit- 
ness your success, is forever fixed; their destiny 
is unalterably sealed. No more will it be theirs 
to retrace the former footsteps of life, to remold 
anew their aspirations, or recast their destinies to 
meet the imposing drama of the future. As they 
are before us to-day, pressing the busy throng of 
life, so they must stand at the general assizes — 
the grand finale of all terrestrial scenes. To ad- 
dress my theme, therefore, to them would be su- 
perfluous; but to you, young ladies and young 
gentlemen, who are just entering upon the thresh- 
old of busy life, upon whom the weighty affairs 
of Church and State must soon devolve, and to 
whom the great volume of Nature is a sealed 
book just beginning to unfold its untold realities 
— it is to you that I w T ould hold up the dignity 
of this time-honored avocation, and bid you, in 
view of the dread realities of the future, not to 
slight the appeal. 

I cannot overestimate the importance of my 
theme, or feel indifferent to the magnitude of my 
task. It is no less than an appeal to the noble 
and high-minded youths, sons of sires the most 



304 Scholastic Literature. 

magnanimous and high-toned that ever peopled 
any part of the habitable globe- — an ancestry 
whose talents and ingenuity, all Southern, free 
and liberal, framed, founded, and perpetuated, for 
more than three-fourths of a century, the best 
system of literary, political, and religious institu- 
tions ever inaugurated among men. With such a 
theme, before such an audience, it is impossible 
not to feel an inspiration of my subject approxi- 
mating to the great interest concerned. With so 
illustrious and talented an ancestry, surrounded 
by all the ease and affluence that true greatness 
can produce, we, as a people, have lost that high 
regard and noble veneration for the profession of 
teaching which has immortalized its patrons in 
every age of the world. 

The dignity of any profession is estimated in 
proportion to its general utility to mankind, and 
the lofty character of the science to whose devel- 
opment it is applied, together with the elevated 
character of its patrons. The profession of medi- 
cine is held in high esteem because of its general 
utility to all classes of society, and the character 
of the men who practice it for learning and re- 
spectability. The profession of law ranks high 
because of its imperative necessity in the general 
conduct of human affairs, and the more than or- 
dinary talent required to insure success in its 
practice. The profession of teaching is dignified 



Literary Address. 305 

because it is absolutely essential to the very ex- 
istence of civilized and enlightened society — the 
chief corner-stone of all other professions of re- 
spectability among mankind. It is dignified be- 
cause it dignifies the human race, elevates the 
character of man, and crowns him lord of crea- 
tion. It is magnanimous because it magnifies the 
human mind — Heaven's richest boon to man — and 
renders its possessor godlike, in the image of the 
Creator. As the Bible is justly styled the Book 
of books because it contains the essence of all 
books, the epitome of art and science, so is teach- 
ing emphatically the profession of professions. It 
gives us the professors of all other professions, 
and the most distinguished men of any profession 
are the teachers of that profession. Who, to-day, 
stand at the head of the science of medicine in 
Tennessee? I answer that they are the teachers 
of that science. Who are the ranking men in the 
science of law in our State? I answer that they 
are those men who have mastered the science suf- 
ficiently well to teach it, and have made thus a 
profession of it in leading others up its rugged 
summits. Paul F. Eve, of Nashville, and Abra- 
ham Caruthers, of Lebanon, are the master-spirits 
of their respective professions in the State of Ten- 
nessee ; and so of other teachers of other profes- 
sions elsewhere. In the great field of literature, 
those who have stood first in its ranks have hon- 



306 Scholastic Literature. 

ored its calling with their services, and rendered 
alike their lives and deeds a precious legacy to 
their successors in all time to come. And to-day 
we, whose trust it is to hold up the dignity of 
this time-honored calling, recur with no ordinary 
pride to the host of immortal names that illumi- 
nate the horizon of teaching. And, first, to Py- 
thagoras, that great apostle of learning and dis- 
tinguished teacher, who encompassed land and sea 
in search of knowledge, and achieved unprece- 
dented success in geometry, which to-day encircles 
his name with a halo of undying fame; to Soc- 
rates and Plato, those great literary prodigies of 
their day and teachers of philosophy, who forsook 
the dazzling splendors of courts and palaces, and 
repaired to their favorite grove of Academos, 
and there assembled around them the aspiring 
youth of their age, and taught them, spell-bound, 
the sublime principles of their far-famed philoso- 
phy; to Gamaliel, for thirty-two years master of 
the Jewish synagogue, at whose feet bent the 
greatest of apostles, the chosen oracle of God to 
the Gentiles, and caught words of wisdom, as did 
the Israelites from the lips of Isaiah, when bap- 
tized by the fire of inspiration; to Sir Isaac New- 
ton, the great Christian philosopher and teacher 
of science, whose gigantic intellect fathomed the 
abstruse mysteries of science, and taught the world 
the transcendent beauties of God's first creation, 



Literary Address. 307 

with little less magic than was displayed in the 
beginning by that eternal fiat which uttered its 
existence; to Benjamin Franklin, around whose 
brow Fame has woven her wreath as a statesman, 
and cast a halo of glory as a philosopher, yet we 
claim him as a teacher who reduced to practice 
some of the noblest precepts, theories, and maxims 
of science the world ever knew; to Noah Web- 
ster, the great teacher of teachers, who stood fifty 
years at the fountain-head of American literature, 
and furnished fifteen millions of people with more 
than half a million volumes of his literary produc- 
tions, who hung entranced upon the wisdom of 
his teachings, as did the Jews upon the edicts of 
their commissioned lawgiver; to the godlike Dick, 
whose heaven-soaring intellect, baptized by the 
inspiration of astronomy — sublimest of sciences — 
traversed the regions of space, and peopled the 
skies with w r orlds, and systems of worlds, beyond 
the ken of mortal gaze — this great man was not 
only a teacher of the sublime science of astronomy, 
and mapped the heavens in simplicity to the 
school -boy, but he was a daily teacher of the 
little helpless orphans of his native village; to 
Sir Humphrey Davy, the great light and life of 
chemistry, whose brilliant achievements in that 
abstruse science mark him as one of the most il- 
lustrious patrons of the profession; to Louis Phil- 
ippe, the exiled French king, who, driven by po- 



308 Scholastic Literature, 

litical persecution, fled from the royal throne of 
France, and sought an asylum in America, where 
he maintained his acquired dignity by the no less 
honorable position of professor in our schools and 
colleges, which he filled with credit to himself and 
honor to the calling, thus making for himself a 
name, not only among kings and princes, but 
among the illustrious ones of the earth. Nor is 
this the only instance of men of authority in high 
places abandoning their positions for the still more 
dignified calling of teaching. And in this connec- 
tion, it is with no ordinary pride that we recur, 
lastly, to the crowning climax of this literary pyra- 
mid which we have erected here to-day — to that 
peerless name in the present history of our coun- 
try's noblemen. That name is Robert E. Lee, the 
honored President of Washington College, Vir- 
ginia, which singularly blends in hallowed associ- 
ation the names of two of the greatest men the 
Old Dominion, or the world, ever produced — 
George Washington and Robert E. Lee. The one, 
in his day, stood "first in war, first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen;" the other 
stands, in our day, the same — first in war, and 
honored in peace by the highest avocation among 
mankind; and although he is the hero of a lost 
cause, yet he towers as one of the proudest monu- 
ments of American character, genius, and intel- 
lect, in the annals of our race. And amid the 



Literary Address. 309 

tumult and wild ravings of fanaticism which have 
aroused the hell-hounds of political discord, in 
fierce revenge, to take his life, under the mockery 
of treason, he stands vindicated from the foul as- 
persion by a unanimous verdict of the civilized 
world, conscious alike of having won the highest 
military fame on earth, and of discharging the 
highest duties of any human avocation among men. 
And lest any should be misled by the pompous 
success and dazzling display of Ulysses Grant, 
his dominant foeman, a contrast between their 
comparative merits may not be inappropriately 
drawn just here. Robert E. Lee is an accom- 
plished gentleman, a scholar, and a benefactor of 
his race. Ulysses Grant is a mushroom character, 
fostered in the hot-house of abolition — fanaticism 
— as a mere tool in the hands of heartless dema- 
gogues, distinguished only for military carnage, 
partisan intrigues, and political duplicity. Robert 
E. Lee is the acknowledged military chieftain of 
the age, while Ulysses Grant has justly won the 
title of Chief Butcher of the Slaughter-pen, as 
the soil made rich in human gore on the hills of 
Yicksburg, and the plains of Virginia, will abun- 
dantly attest. The one is now the honored Presi- 
dent of Washington College; and should the other, 
to the shame of the American polity, be made 
President of the United States, the contrast will 
then be none the less striking. The one will then 



310 Scholastic Literature. 

nobly tower above the other, and thus verify the 
great diplomatic maxim that "it is better to do 
right than to be a king " — a doctrine that I would 
hold up to you, young men, as attested by the 
united experience of mankind, and sanctioned by 
the voice of revelation, and present these two 
characters to illustrate its truth. The one I hold 
up as a model type of a great man — great in de- 
fiance to adversity ; the other, a mere adventitious 
character, of Jonas Gourd-vine growth — a sad and 
miserable failure. The position of the two men 
has been similar, but their difference is great, and 
that difference is the result of a cultivated intel- 
lect. And I repeat it, that it is with no ordinary 
pride of country that I refer to General Lee in 
the catalogue of immortal names I have tried to 
portray before you to-day; for in him, young men 
of America, you behold a living witness of the 
fact that the days of great men have not passed 
away from us forever — that although the voice of 
Clay, and Calhoun, and their like, is no longer 
heard in the nation's Capitol, pleading for liberty 
and the Constitution, yet he is a living monument 
■ — an unmistakable example that it is possible for 
great men to rise up in degenerate times, and 
under the yoke of political oppression. 

But for respect to your patience, I might mul- 
tiply this list almost indefinitely : I could point 
you to Alexander P. Stewart, one of Tennessee's 



Literary Address. 311 

most gifted sons, who was breveted Lieutenant- 
General in the Confederate Army, and is now the 
Professor of Mathematics in the Cumberland Uni- 
versity; to Professor M. F. Maury, late of the 
C. S. Navy, the ablest teacher of geography in 
modern times, and who has subjected old Ocean's 
steady main to science — science "whose everlast- 
ing chain binds earth, ocean, and sky." But I 
must desist. 

Having, in a cursory glance, shown that great 
teachers are great men, and that the greatest men 
have been teachers, I turn now to the other side 
of the picture, and with the great problem already 
demonstrated, that this profession is the royal 
road to eminence, I have but to repeat the corol- 
lary and close the proposition — to wit, that it has 
no representatives crowding the haunts of vice, 
crime, and infamy. From a recent report of the 
State Penitentiary, we find, out of three hundred 
miserable convicts, there was not a single one from 
the ranks of regular teachers, while there were 
but three who were liberally educated, and only 
one who had received a classical education; thus 
showing clearly that the educated do not frequent 
the hovels of crime, or walk the rounds of in- 
famy. 

Parents and guardians of Marshall county, were 
I called upon to-day to issue a policy of insurance 
for your children against these sinks of pollution, 



312 Scholastic Literature. 

the Penitentiary and Work-house, I would give 
them a chart for a thorough education. Were I 
called upon to insure them a fortune in this life 
only, I would advise the same kind of policy. 
Wealth and fame take wings of their own crea- 
tion, and fly away, leaving us the disappointed 
candidates of misery. 

But when madness "that ruled the hour," and 
the national prejudices of the world, conspired to 
rob General Lee of his sword and his fortune, he 
had a legacy which the world neither gave nor 
could take away. They could take from him the 
Arlington Heights — that princely home of his 
youth, and wrest from his hand the ablest sword 
ever drawn in human combat; yet he had a culti- 
vated intellect — a fortune that baffled their power 
and mocked at their folly. Robbed of all else 
but this, he stands the peer of mankind, envied 
by the millionaires of earth. 

Seeing that we are encompassed about with so 
great a crowd of witnesses to testify to the dig- 
nity of our calling, we come next to inquire, 
Where are the young men to fill the places of 
these renowned ones ? Go to your schools, your 
colleges, and universities, and inquire. The an- 
swer echoes, They are not there. There are few, 
if any, young men in Marshall county preparing 
to become teachers, and still fewer pursuing a reg- 
ular classical course of education. As a witness 



Literary Address. 313 

having cognizance of the case in litigation, and on 
the witness-stand before you, bound by motives 
as high as heaven and broad as earth, to speak the 
truth, I declare to you I know not a single one in 
the county. I appeal to my worthy colleagues 
here, and throughout the country, to corroborate 
this statement. If your worthy Principal here 
were • removed from your midst by the hand of 
death, where is the young man, a native of your 
county, who could fill his place ? 

I recur now with vivid recollections to those 
who were school-mates of mine years ago. I 
know of not a single one, out of sixty or seventy- 
five young men, who is, or ever has been, a teacher 
of any rank or respectability. They were, per- 
haps, as worthy and talented young men as those 
of any time or place; and I mention the fact only 
to show the inevitable destination to which our 
young men and young ladies are tending. Out 
of fifteen hundred young men who have been stu- 
dents of mine during my career as a teacher, and 
whose names I can readily point to on the cata- 
logue, I know of but one who is regularly engaged 
in the profession as a teacher of rank and respect- 
ability. They have made lawyers, doctors, and 
preachers, and every thing else praiseworthy, but 
they will not make teachers. Young men, why is 
this? Have you lost all that godlike zeal, those 
heaven-born aspirations bequeathed to you by a 
14 



314 Scholastic Literature, 

noble ancestry? If the departed spirits of those 
immortal ones, whom we have tried to portray- 
before you on this occasion, were permitted to 
revisit the lovely land — this land of their nativity 
— with what astonishment would they behold your 
inactivity, your inertness, and want of apprecia- 
tion of the glorious achievements which they have 
transmitted to you! Would not their grieving 
spirits, like that which disturbed the slumbers of 
Belshazzar, write upon the walls of every school- 
room in our land, in characters too plain to re- 
quire an Elijah to read it, the literary "Miene, mene, 
teJcel, upharsin" — the just condemnation of our 
age, that we had been weighed in the balance of 
literature, and found wanting? 

Trustees, parents, and guardians of the schools 
of the country, I now turn to you — to you, men 
who build turnpikes, check the earth's surface 
with railroads, and span seas with telegraphs — 
and ask, Is it your fault that these young men 
and young ladies will not be educated? Is it 
your fault that they will not take a thorough 
course of study, and make themselves the leading 
spirits of the age in science and literature? If 
so, great is your responsibility in time and eter- 
nity. If I have overdrawn the picture, forgive 
me; if not, then ask Heaven to forgive the great- 
est neglect of your lives. Would you have your 
children to be the great ones of the land, as others 



Literary Address. 315 

have been before them? Educate them, and you 
will accomplish your desire. You have not for- 
gotten that it is the command of Heaven to "train 
up a child in the way it should go, and when it is 
old it will not depart from it." 

Hamilcar, a distinguished Carthaginian noble- 
man, took his son Hannibal, when a boy of thirteen, 
and caused him to kneel at the altar of his country 
and swear eternal enmity to the Roman name. To 
the fulfillment of this solemn oath, Hannibal, the 
greatest military chieftain of his age, devoted his 
entire life; and the Roman people never had a 
greater enemy, or one more to be feared, than they 
found in this sworn Carthaginian youth. Are 
your sons less capable of undertaking great enter- 
prises, and of achieving great successes, than was 
the barbarian youth ? How many young Hannibals 
might be found here to-day, ready to be sworn upon 
the altar of Southern literature, if we but had the 
Hamilcar s to swear them ? 

Young men, a word to you, and I am done : 

" In the world's broad field of battle, 
In the bivouac of life, 
Be not like dumb, driven cattle — 
Be a hero in the strife." 

Then, I beseech you, by all that you are, or 
ever expect to be, to bestir yourselves to the 
magnitude of the crisis in which you are placed. 



316 Scholastic Literature. 

It is yours to receive the literature of the fathers 
— those who made your government free and its 
citizens great ; it is yours to preserve it, improve 
it, and transmit it unimpaired to generations after 
you — that literature which gave to the American 
army of '76 its commander-in-chief, the United 
States their first president, and the world its only 
Washington — that literature which gave the strug- 
gling colonies the Declaration of Independence, 
and perpetuated their government for eighty-four 
years as the proudest human fabric ever known to 
the world. And it was not until Northern litera- 
ture and Northern ideas assumed its control that 
this proud fabric began to decay. It is for you, 
young men, to say whether the decay shall be 
arrested, or result in its destruction. Already 
have societies been formed in Massachusetts with 
the avowed purpose, promulgated to the world, 
that Southern literature must be supplanted by 
" Northern ideas and Northern energy." Young 
men, will you maintain the heritage, or ignomini- 
ously surrender it ? Will you go on in pursuit of 
the truant boy chastising the winged butterfly, and 
make a surrender, more direful in its consequences 
than that of Lee in Virginia, or Johnson in North 
Carolina ? They surrendered, for a time, the only 
hope of a free government, purchased by the blood 
of the patriots of '76. If you surrender this glorious 
heritage, you will give up, not only the hope of 



Literary Address. 317 

free governments in all time to come, but the only 
basis upon which they have been constructed — the 
education of the masses. Theirs was a surrender 
precipitated by a fatal necessity. Yours, if you 
make it, is unnecessitated, for it is in your power 
to avert the calamity. And remember, my dear 
young friends, that no punishments of Heaven are 
so severe as those for mercies abused, and no curses 
so deep as those pronounced in the words, "Because 
ye would not." 

Ignorance is a crime when knowledge is in your 
power. There is deep and damning guilt in heed- 
less inattention, when truth and motives of impor- 
tance claim your serious consideration. Will you 
go on heedless in sport and pleasure, ride the rings 
of fairs, and hurl the lance in the tournaments, 
while the very heavens lower in blackness over 
your heads ? If you are determined to remain in- 
different to the crisis of the hour, and shamefully 
surrender the legacy bequeathed to you, I have 
but one request to make of you, and it is this — 
that you do not perpetrate so shameful and humili- 
ating a deed upon the soil on which Washington, 
" Old Hickory," and the immortal Stonewall Jack- 
son drew their battle-blades — for which the voice 
of Clay and Calhoun made vocal the breezes of 
heaven with accents of freedom; a soil recently 
baptized with the blood of one hundred thousand 
Southern soldiers — a soil in whose bosom repose 



318 Scholastic Literature. 

the ashes of Pat Cleburne and Felix Zollicoffer ; 
a land destined to be sung by some future bard 
with more dazzling splendor than crowns the brow 
of either Homer or Virgil. Do not make your- 
selves the "hewers of wood and drawers of water" 
in such a land as this ; but rather exile yourselves 
to some far-off nook or corner — some dark, seques- 
tered spot of earth. 

" Where brooding darkness spreads her jealous wings, 
Where the night-raven sings, 
There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks, 
In dark Cimmerian darkness dwell." 



III. DEPARTMENT OF 1868-9. 



SCHOLASTIC LITERATURE. 



THE INFLUENCE OF POETRY. 

* 
BY JAMES J. LONG. 

The more the human mind contemplates the 
subject of poetry, the more it is impressed with its 
power and importance. It is a gift of Providence 
to a few of the human race, to beautify nature, to 
pave the way for virtue, and to overthrow vice and 
immorality. Poetry may be considered as the 
most useful of the fine arts, as it cultivates all, 
while the others only exercise a part of the mental 
machinery. 

The fundamental principles of poetry consist, 
not as the mere pretender thinks — in the production 
of whose pen the world, at the present time, is 
literally overflowing — in the exact measurement of 
feet and harmony of sound, but true poetry may 
be considered as beautiful ideas beautifully ex- 
pressed. The poet has been justly styled a crea- 
tor and a combiner, for he creates ideas, and skill- 
14* (321) 



322 Scholastic Literature. 

fully arranges them so as to make sweet harmony, 
which makes all the tender chords of our nature 
vibrate. The poet is not, however, deprived of 
the privilege of relating facts in his own peculiar 
way ; for would you follow the ancient Greeks and 
Romans in their advancements in civilization, and 
in their improvements in the arts and sciences, 
turn to their poets; there you will find their ac- 
quirements, in knowledge of every kind, traced in 
a most beautiful style. 

Every nation, since the creation, has had a style 
peculiarly its ow T n. The untutored Indians that 
once spread their wigwams in these grassy mead- 
ows, delighted in the wild and heroic songs of war; 
and their war-song grew louder and more fierce as 
they danced around the war-pole, and related their 
deeds of blood. The Goths and Vandals, too, de- 
lighted in the wild and heroic songs of war. It 
is the part of poetry to penetrate the uncertain 
fields of the future with prophetic eye, or revel 
amid the dark mazes of by-gone ages. The poet 
loves to stretch before the mental eye all the 
beauties and imagery of Nature ; he invites us to 
look into the dim future, and watch the unfolding 
of uncertain fate. 

The poet sees and hears poetry in all nature- — 
in ocean's sullen roar; in the wild, fierce storm; in 
the murmuring brook ; in the gentle breezes ; in 
Nature's feathered choristers ; in 



The Influence of Poetry. 323 

" The heaven-embosomed sun ; the rainbows, 
Where lucid forms disport the fancy eye ; 
The vernal flower, mild, autumnal purpling glow, 
The summer's thunder, and winter's snow." 

i When the heart is chilled by the wintry blasts 
of misfortune, and no solace is to be had from 
social intercourse with our fellow-beings, nor from 
mingling in pleasure's giddy rounds, then it is that 
the troubled mind may forget, for a time, in follow- 
ing some master-spirit of by-goiie ages through 
the mazy labyrinths of thought, the terrible re- 
ality which, like a simoom sweeping over some 
flowery oasis, nips the first tender buds of hope. 
And to the mental laborer, what is more exhilarat- 
ing to his depressed spirits than with some favor- 
ite bard to hold sweet communion with Nature 
and Nature's God ? 

Poetry has been denned by some writer to be 
the language of the soul, which is the most appro- 
priate definition that has been given ; for would 
you know the character of a poet in the various 
vicissitudes of life, you have a true index in his 
writings. 

Poetry seems often to be linked with talent 
and true greatness, moving hand in hand with 
them through the intricate mazes of life, cast- 
ing a mantle of despondency over the too sensi- 
tive spirit; and though hope's star occasionally 
darts its flickering beams athwart their path, yet 



324 Scholastic Literature. 

soon its light is obscured by the dark folds of 
gloomy clouds ; and though favoring breezes may 
sometimes disperse them, yet again they grow 
darker and darker, until the silver lining seems 
rent in twain, and their contents showered upon 
the defenseless head. 

The influence of poetry upon a nation's litera- 
ture needs no demonstration; for what would* the 
literature of Greece have been without a Homer, 
that of Italy without a Virgil, a Horace, or a 
Juvenal, England without a Shakspeare, a Milton, 
or a Byron — yes, a Byron, whose writings, though 
tending to demoralize, may, however, be consid- 
ered as some of the first gems of literature? Let 
us consider the influence of poetry over a nation's 
morality. 

Let us draw aside the veil of the past, and 
let fancy rove back to the days of Homer — 
that grand center and luminary around which all 
other poets revolve, who sung of Achilles' wrath, 
which hurled to Pluto's gloomy region the souls 
of mighty chieftains untimely slain — and see what 
was the condition of the Greeks. We find them 
groping their way in anarchy and barbarism, with 
but little, if any, knowledge of the true God. 
Then it was as though 

" The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars 
Did wander darkly in the eternal space, 



The Influence of Poetry. 325 

Rayless and pathless ; and the icy earth 
Swung, blind and blackening, in moonless air." 



But this transcendent genius, who looked from 
his works as if he could sway a world at his will, 
seeing the deplorable condition of his countrymen, 
resolved, with the aid of Heaven, to enlighten 
them upon that all -important subject — the ex- 
istence of an overruling God. And descending 
through the lapse of ages, let us contemplate a 
Juvenal. This distinguished satirist flourished 
when vice and immorality were held as household 
gods by the degenerate Romans. Then it was 
that the midnight assassin perpetrated deeds from 
which virtue, modesty, and piety shrank abashed, 
from viewing which the pale-faced moon and her 
train of twinkling stars hid their faces behind 
their cloudy drapery ; yes, it was then that the 
strong exerted their power over the weak, and 
ground them down into poverty and want, with- 
out one feeling of remorse in their adamantine 
souls. 

But the shafts of unrestrained liberty were des- 
tined to bring about an entire reformation, for they 
were so directed to chastise vice as well as to 
encourage it, and its first efforts made the most 
powerful vices to tremble, and the masters of the 
world to shake upon their thrones. 

Then, since poetry has exerted so powerful an 



326 Scholastic Literature, 

influence over the destinies of men, and even 
nations, who is more worthy to be admitted to the 
glory of the illustrious dead than the poet ? But 
it is not so. The poet has been permitted to pass 
down into the silent regions of the dead, almost 
unhonored. 



The Useful and Beautiful. 327 



THE USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL. 

BY VV. A. PROSSER. 

Life is like a fountain by a thousand streams, 
that perish if one he dried up. It is a silver 
chord twisted together with a thousand strings, 
that part asunder if one be broken. Yet the lute 
of the soul, whose silken chords are entwined 
with the living fibers of the heart, when swept by 
the tenderest hand, gives forth a harmony more 
beautiful than the lute of Orpheus, strung with 
poets' sinews, and touched with a hand that could 
quell all the savage passions of the human heart, 
and lend forth its noblest powers to revelry — 

" When brighter suns disperse serener light, 
And milder morns emparadise the night." 

Now, Fancy may plume her wings for the fairy 
fields of light, and combine at a glance the utility 
and beauty of yon bright ^panorama of glittering 
worlds, at whose magnitude the soaring astron- 
omer staggers, and exclaims: "They are but a 
point in the diagram of the universe, but a line 
in the geometry of Nature." 



328 Scholastic Literature. 

What presents a more useful and beautiful ap- 
pearance than the great king of day, as he quick- 
ens the sleeping eye of Nature, animating the 
heart of this stupendous universe? or the pale 
queen of night, as she rides up in the heavens, 
smiling down upon us from without the jasper 
walls of the fair city, till the infinitude of the 
golden tresses falls down the steeps of heaven, 
and mingles with the sinking torch of Hesper, until 
she hides her shining face in the westward-sloping 
pathway of her silver sister-spheres ? There were 
they set for holy dominion by Him who marked 
for the sun his journey, and bade the moon know 
her going down. They were built for their place 
in the far-off sky. Approach them, and the beauty 
of their aspect fades into blanched fearfulness : 
their purple walls are rent into grizzly rocks; their 
silver fret-works sadden into wasting snow ; the 
storm-brands of ages are on their breast; the ashes 
of their own ruin lie solemnly on their white rai- 
ment. Let us turn there, and stand, in imagina- 
tion, amid the sepulchers of earth's monuments of 
human weakness, that have blackened and crum- 
bled as the worm gnawed its way into the tomb, 
amid the fierce storms that have swept over their 
beautiful heads, and bowed them forever. The 
tomb of Moses is unknown; but the traveler 
slakes his thirst at the well of Jacob. The gor- 
geous palace of the wisest of monarchs, with the 



The Useful and Beautiful. 329 

cedar, gold, and ivory, and even the temple of 
Jerusalem, hallowed by the visible glory of ihe 
Deity himself, are gone; but Solomon's reservoirs 
are as perfect as ever. The golden house of Nero 
is a mass of ruins; but the Aqua Claudia still 
pours into Rome its limpid stream. The Temple 
of the Sun at Padmar, in the wilderness, has 
fallen, but its fountains sparkle as freely in the 
sun as when thousands of worshipers thronged its 
lofty colonnades. 

Thus we see that no work of beauty alone can 
ever rise over the deep ocean of time; that the 
Useful, combined with the Beautiful, can only 
flash through the mist of antiquity. This com- 
bination cultivates all others, and shines with un- 
dying luster from generation to generation. This 
earth is beautiful; yet not the silver clouds 
stretched over the sun's couch, nor the burnished 
waves of the ocean, nor the misty mountain's 
height, upon whose top the azure vault of heaven 
seems resting, can compare in usefulness with 
that "house not made with hands," that "city 
whose maker and builder is God." There waves 
of glory roll in glittering billows, while the celes- 
tial couriers hang with rapture upon the opening 
vistas of that boundless realm of endless delight. 
Everlasting ages circle the unmapped mysteries 
of the future world, and overtop those star-worlds 
kingdomed in immensity, and circle the eternal 



330 Scholastic Literature. 

solitude of the life to come. Strange sight! Man, 
a dweller on this dim speck called earth — this 
atom of an atom — would still live forever ! What 
a thought! Can the depths of all earth's boasted 
wisdom evolve a grander one? Crowns, king- 
doms, and systems shall sink in the Lethean waves 
of oblivion, and pass away like a wild dream ; the 
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and 
all their beauty pass away. With such thoughts, 
man wonders at his own origin, and pants for the 
stream of life, and turns aside to drop the veil of 
mortality, and be clothed with spotless robes of 
purity. 



Washington s and Clay 's Tombs. 331 



WASHINGTON'S AND CLAY'S TOMBS. 

BY T. J. FOWLER. 

Above the bosom of the broad Potomac a hill 
lifts its head on high, and throws its shadows on 
the dancing wave. There, on that gentle decliv- 
ity, is a vault, and there, fast moldering into dust, 
is a noble and gallant heart, that once throbbed 
with the purest patriotism, the highest, loftiest 
courage. There withers the arm that struck down 
the host of the enemy, and flung to the breeze the 
banner of our freedom;- there the feet are at rest 
that plunged through ice and snow, that trod the 
burning sands; and the mind that conceived, and 
the spirit that nourished, and the iron energy that 
executed, and the bold and noble man whose form 
contained all these, and to whom, under God, we 
this day owe our greatness and glory — all are 
buried there. 

No unhallowed foot tramples upon that sacred 
soil. The rude laugh is hushed; the fierce strife 
restrained; and, with tearful eyes and uncovered 
brows, generations have stood, and will stand, 



332 Scholastic Literature. 

around and about the grave of Washington. And 
why? Was it simply because he was a mighty 
warrior ? So was Napoleon. Was it because he 
struck boldly for his country's honor? So did 
thousands besides him. It was these, but it was 
more : it was because he added to his powerful 
mind the pure and lofty principles of morality; 
and around the rest by a heavenly faith, a con- 
fiding hope, a holy life. 

Never be ashamed, my young friends, of being 
esteemed religious. If any mock you, if any ask 
you what courageous, what noble mind has ever 
embraced its holy teachings, point them to that 
tomb beside yon bounding river, and answer: 
"Washington." 

Another name should here be mentioned — 
Henry Clay. The tears are still in the eyes of 
this nation, the heart of our country is still throb- 
bing with unfeigned sorrow, at the loss of one 
who was chief among the orators, the patriots, the 
sages of America. Amid the pride of station, the 
crowd of honors, the cheering uproar of applause, 
surrounded by prosperity, by friends, by fame, 
the still small voice of the messenger from heaven 
whispered to his heart: "All this is not thy rest; 
follow thou me." And he obeyed — first doubt- 
fully, then willingly, and, at the close, gladly; 
and so life sweetly and beautifully passed away, 
leaving the-jjame of Henry Clay dear to us for 



Washington s and Clays Tombs, 333 

his brave, and patriotic, and splendid achieve- 
ments, but dearer to the Christian heart for the 
humility, and faith, and hope which clustered 
around life's closing scenes. View his splendid 
monument near Lexington, standing tall and 
piercing the skies, in full view of his beloved Ash- 
land. This monument keeps alive the sacred re- 
collections of Henry Clay's noble national ser- 
vices, and the rising generation will delight to 
gaze on his tomb, and read the worthy deeds of 
his life, and to render the beloved Ashland more 
endearing to the State of Kentucky. Under the 
providence of God, her State University is located 
at his beautiful homestead, where every poor boy, 
depending upon himself by the advantage of his 
manual labor, can drink of the fount of knowl- 
edge. This University comprises six Colleges, or- 
ganized under the control of competent Trustees, 
to fulfill the design of its noble founders. From 
this institution from five hundred to seven hun- 
dred students go forth annually to the world, 
leavening the population with the fruits of science. 
Then may we ever cherish the memory of such 
men as Washington, Clay, and Jackson, and a 
host of others whose names stand illustrious on 
history's page ! Mourn we bitterly our country's 
loss! cherish we ever their glorious memories! 
And believe not, my friends, that those are the 
only examples I could bring. Ten thousand times 



334 Scholastic Literature. 

ten thousand of bright and pure intellects of in- 
domitable, fearless courage, have acknowledged 
the same sway, have worshiped at the same shrine, 
have gloried in this homage, and given their blood 
as a cement to their faith. 



Women of the Present Day. 335 



WOMEN OF THE PRESENT DAY. 

BY JOSIE McADAMS. 

Women nowadays are not, or do not, apply 
themselves as they did in olden times. They are 
delicate, and cannot (to hear them) do any thing 
that requires half the labor that work accom- 
plished by them of earlier years did. They seem 
to be more timid now than then. I have often 
heard old women talk of old days, comparing the 
women of then and now. It used to be the cus- 
tom of all, in olden times, to walk to church some 
three or four miles. Now, women would stay at 
home and fret all day, before they would walk so 
far; their shoes would not last such a distance. 
But could they not do like the women used to do 
— wear coarse shoes until nearly at church, then 
put on their Sunday go-to-meeting ones? "Well," 
one would say, "we might have our beaux with 
us." Well, send them along, to wait till you 
change your shoes. But a lady must have a new 
dress every month for church — that of the finest 
material, too ; not, like those of our old grand- 



336 Scholastic Literature. 

mothers, homespun. Why, yes, to be sure, in 
olden times women were fine who had new home- 
spun dresses, and very often bonnets of the same 
material ; but compare the wardrobe of the women 
of nowadays and other days. Now, they must 
have a new hat or bonnet every spring and fall, in 
small towns and in the country; but in large 
cities fashion demands new ones every month, 
while in olden times a bonnet was fashionable as 
long as it lasted. Now, a young lady must have 
dresses in abundance — the more dresses, the more 
honorable. In olden times a dress would answer 
for the purpose as long as it lasted. A young lady 
must have all and every thing to make beautiful : 
she must have the "magnolia bloom of youth," 
paint lily-white, to hide all her external imperfec- 
tions ; but in olden times she was made fair and 
beautiful by labor of all kinds. Her bloom of 
youth was composed of the essence of kindness 
and good sense; her paint was composed of exer- 
cise. Now every thing is considered. I know old 
men who have fashionable daughters would prefer 
a change, and to have the fashion of olden times 
to come again. A young girl, in olden times, was 
taught to read, write, and spell, while now they 
must have a knowledge of all things — such as 
music, dancing, and singing; she must have a 
knowledge of all the different languages. 

I do not think there was as much attention 



Women of the Present Day, 337 

given to the young women of that age as there 
should have been; but it does not require that 
they should know every thing to fill their place. 
She should have a good education — one with 
which she could, if left alone, support herself, 
and those thrown under her care. It does not 
require that a lady must be sent to college to gain 
knowledge, and become accomplished; for very 
often it is the case that she returns home only a 
little polished, and thinks that one head can con- 
tain it all. She gives fashionable calls, attends 
all the balls and parties, talks French, and is per- 
fect in putting on airs. She also sleeps late; 
never tries to be of any use whatever at home ; 
she takes her naps during the day, reads a novel 
story, and late in the day her ride must be taken. 
Of what use is she to herself, or the world? 
Now, the girl in olden times had no need of all 
this flattering knowledge. She could read books 
that were useful to her in the position she occu- 
pied; she attended parties when necessary, but 
with not so much formality ; she took her naps at 
night, when all her day's work was over; took 
her ride on business, such as going to market, or 
watering the horses, or driving the cows to the 
pasture. Now, you all know that she was useful 
to "herself, and to those with whom she was con- 
nected. 

I have often noticed difference of treatment be- 
15 



338 Scholastic Literature. 

tween the fashionable girl of nowadays and the 
poor girl who imitates good sense. Mark the 
difference — they both come in the same circle : 
one is trimmed fast, a perfect aristocrat; the 
other a good girl, but not a fashionable girl. One 
receives all compliments from those of high rank; 
the other the kind sayings of the warm-hearted. 
The fast girl has so many admirers; she is so 
well accomplished, you hear her spoken of in all 
crowds and social gatherings. It is often asked 
of her, " Is she rich ?" as though riches were the 
passport from earth to heaven. The unfashion- 
able girl plods her way through the world, spoken 
of in ways of those who love the ways of the 
good. She is almost certain to be the happier of 
the two, I think. If we would all try more to 
imitate the fashions of the women of olden times 
than those of the present age, we would be more 
happy. 

One great aim through life should be to be use- 
ful to ourselves and an ornament to society. It 
is not required that we must be fashionable or 
rich, but that we should be kind, intelligent, lovely, 
and useful to the world. 



Home. 339 



HOME. 

BY ITTIE SAWYERS. 

There is probably no word in the English lan- 
guage that has so much sweetness in it as the word 
"Home" — that touches the tender chords of the 
heart, and makes it vibrate as the sweet word, 
"Home." No other word in all the books will 
supply its place. Who would have any other? 
It seems as if Providence has implanted within 
us, not only a love and attachment for the name, 
but a love and attachment for the place we call 
home. Again, it seems that Deity has implanted 
in every living creature a love of home, from the 
little ant, that gathers its food in summer with so 
much industry, and places it away so snugly in its 
home for its winter supply. How wise the little 
ant ! Though it may, through the day, wander 
far from its little home in search of food, still it 
remembers its dear little home. My young friends, 
look to the ant, and learn lessons of industry and 
wisdom — wisdom in laying up in store for the cold 
winter days. 



340 Scholastic Literature. 

All domestic animals seem to have a love for 
their particular place, home. When the sun is 
setting behind the western horizon, and the shades 
of night begin to fall on them, they gather them- 
selves to their particular home. None but the 
wild beasts of prey go out from their homes 
after the darkness of night comes on. From this 
I think the young men in particular should learn 
a very important lesson, and if there be older 
men here, heads of families, who are accustomed 
to seek their pleasure away from home, away from 
the family circle, they too would do well to learn 
a lesson, that only wild beasts of prey leave their 
homes after night. They should remember that 
while they are absent from the family circle, and 
enjoying themselves ever so pleasantly, all is not 
happiness at home. There are lonely and sad ones 
there, as little as you may think of it. 

The first home we have any account of was the 
beautiful garden, Eden. In that home, prepared 
for our first parents, all was beautiful, grand, and 
lovely, from the tiny flower to the large, full-grown 
tree, and trees of delicious fruit, and the little 
gurgling, sparkling stream. Every thing conspired 
to make that a lovely home. The sun, moon, and 
stars looked down upon that lovely place with 
delight. We have in this a very good pattern for 
a home — one made by Deity himself. Erom this 
all may draw a good and profitable lesson. But, 



Home. 341 

alas, how soon was that beautiful home changed ! 
Instead of the sweet little opening flower, there 
grew the ugly brier to choke it out, and there were 
bitterness and sorrows there, which marred the 
peace of that once lovely home, and ever since as 
was that home so are many now. Although there 
may be, and is, much in the family circle at home 
that is pleasant, and that affords the greatest 
happiness, still there are often sadness, grief, and 
sorrow there. In that lovely circle one is taken 
sick — father, mother, brother, sister, a dear child ; 
then there is sadness written on every brow. 
Death throws around them his icy-cold arms; they 
are gone. Then there are grief and sorrow there 
which cannot be told. That loving circle is broken 
up; there is a vacant seat in that once lovely 
home. 

The family circle is often broken by members 
leaving for some other spot or place, which they 
may call home. Sometimes a boy or girl turns 
prodigal, and leaves the dear old home : again there 
is sadness. As said before, how often is home 
made sad ! All are ready to say, How dear are our 
homes to us ! None are prepared to know the 
worth of home until they are deprived of its 
privileges and comforts ; though it may be but an 
humble cot, still it is sweet, sweet home, how 
dear! 

There is a sad thought forces itself upon my 



342 Scholastic Literature. 

mind, and it is this, that there are many who have 
no place that they can call home. How heart- 
rending it is to think of the many poor orphan chil- 
dren, this cold wintry weather, while we are well 
provided for, who have no pleasant and comfortable 
places into which to gather themselves ; no soft, 
downy bed on which to rest their aching heads ; 
no table laden with God's rich blessings to satisfy 
their gnawing hunger ; no warm fire around which 
to gather to warm their cold and frozen limbs ! 
Who does not feel for the poor orphan, homeless 
one ? we should help them ! 

After all, though we may have our pleasant 
homes, and every thing about them that is calcu- 
lated to make us happy, still the thought comes 
stealing over our minds that we have no continu- 
ing home here — that soon we must leave those 
pleasant places, though they be ever so dear to us. 
How important, then, that we have a title to a 
home in that mansion far above the skies ! If we 
are but good, the blessed book of inspiration tells 
us that there are beautiful homes prepared beyond 
the shores of Time for such. And that home is 
beautiful beyond description. Its streets are of 
pure gold; its walls are resplendent with beauty; 
and through it runs the beautiful stream, clear as 
crystal; and there will be no sickness there, no 
death there, no tears of sorrow there, no more 
separation in that beautiful and glorious home. 



The Honored Dead. 343 



THE HONORED DEAD. 

BY J. M. CUNNINGHAM. 

Permit me, on this occasion, to ask the Southern 
heart to stop its gay festivity for awhile, and ask 
its sober second thought, its real feeling, toward 
those who have yielded their lives upon the hon- 
ored field of battle ; yes, lend an ear to my trem- 
bling tongue, while I answer your inquiry as to 
who they are. But before I proceed farther, I 
hope there are none who will be so presumptuous 
as to think I speak to-day with the view of casting 
any reflection upon any one or any body politic. 
My friends, that day is past ; the strife ended, the 
banner is no longer wafted in the soft zephyrs of 
heaven, and the honored dead sleep. Let them 
quietly lie, for — 

" How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
By all their country's wishes blest !" 

Shall they be forgotten? You, whose silvered 
locks tell the tale of life, can answer this best; 



344 Scholastic Literature. 

and you, whose cheeks and ruby lips tell the tale 
of love, go strew your flowers over the cemeteries 
in whose bosom now lie their fair forms, soon to 
molder and return to mother earth; go moisten 
the dust with the tears of love and gratitude ! 
Yes, deck them, friends, lovers, foes. " Let pas- 
sion end where graves begin." 

They fell on the field of honor. They gave 
their lives, their hearts, and their fair fame for the 
cause of liberty, for the salvation of the land that 
now covers their proud forms from the rays of 
yonder scorching and desolating sun. 

" Go, stranger, tell the Spartan here they lie, 
Who to support their laws do boldly die." 

Neptune shall sooner bury itself with its waters 
than the memory of the trophies gained there; 
and "Bunker Hill" shall perish sooner than the 
glory of that great battle of Gettysburg shall be 
forgotten ; Chickamauga and Shiloh will sooner 
cease to be than the memory of those who fell on 
those historic fields. Revolution may arise and 
sweep over the earth, leveling the proud kingdoms 
of the world in one universal wreck ; monumental 
marble will decay and be no more ; the pole will 
lose its magnetic attraction ; the fiery, forked light- 
ning will shoot its angry blaze athwart the heavens, 
and bid defiance to the will of man, sooner than 
the glory of the man who falls upon the field of 



The Honored Dead. 345 

honor. That glory is as fadeless as the sun, and 
as eternal as mind itself. 

Mount the wings of imagination and scan the 
dark and buried past, and tell me if Leonidas did 
not die in obedience to his country? Csesar 
perched his eagle in the sunlight of heaven, and 
fought for it, because it was the renown of his 
country's glory. The Italian enters the bloody 
contest for revenge. Socrates drank the poison 
from the deadly hemlock, and at set of sun quietly 
breathed the life of a martyr for truth. Alexan- 
der drank the cup of Hercules, and with brain of 
fire died, weeping for a field of greater carnage. 
Napoleon, while the waves of the sea leaped and 
laughed in their freedom, poured out his life in 
vain sighs over the injustice of his murderous im- 
prisonment. Yet more fearless far than those 
heroes of the ensanguined fields, more fadeless 
far than any laurels which ever twined the brow 
of ancient chieftain, is the immortal Shamrock 
which strangers' hands have placed upon those who 
now sleep the sleep that knows no awakening, 
under the pine and the myrtle of the genial sunny 
South. 

Glorious men ! your names will live while valor 
is known and finds a home among the children of 
the earth; your remains may lie exhumed, or 
bleaching under the sun, far away from home and 
your loved land; the stranger's eyes may weep 
15* 



346 Scholastic Literature. 

over your graves, and place the fragrant lilies 
there, but your virtue and your deeds of daring 
will live in the hearts of your Southern associates 
while the stars shall promenade the skies. Sooner 
shall the glittering little stars, that dance in the 
heavens to the music of the spheres, when the 
world is wrapt in silent gloom, cease their gambols, 
and fall, like blasted figs, to darken forever in the 
trackless void, than you shall perish and pass for- 
ever away from the thoughts of men ! Your re- 
sistless charges have immortalized the field of 
honor; your bravery has wrung commendation 
from the lips even of your enemies ; your devo- 
tion to your country has been the admiration of 
the world. In after ages, the voices from an hun- 
dred fields of our glorious dead will ring in the 
ear of tyrants, and cause them to tremble; for the 
Nemesis will come and hurl them headlong from 
places desecrated by their presence. 

What a wild world of thought pours his legions 
over the mind while we stand uncovered before 
the honored but humble tomb of a Jackson, a 
Polk, a Cleburne, a Rains, a Stewart, and a Pel- 
ham! We might as well lay our hand upon our 
heart and tell it, in tones of sadness, to stop its 
throbbing, and hope the extention of life, as to 
hope to drive from our bosoms the cherished mem- 
ory of those great and good men who have died 
on the fields of honor. 



The Honored Dead. 347 

In searching the dusty tombs of centuries — 

" Wherein the histories of men are writ, 
We find sometimes a soul that seems to sit, 
Like a serene indweller of the skies, 
Above the heat, the passion, and the strife, 
The pomp and pleasures of this lower life. 
Yes, a being firm in war, 

When justice is at stake, 
Who'd lead the struggle far, 
And die for virtue's sake." 

Let us view with voiceless pride that peerless 
chieftain of whom the nineteenth century has 
cause to be proud, while his exhausted veterans 
are sleeping under the cold and silent moon ; see 
him watching their safety, hear his lips rend the 
air of heaven with praise and adoration to Him 
who rules yonder glittering orb ; and, lastly, see 
his wounded, bleeding body borne from the field 
of Chancellorsville, and tell me if fabled heroes, 
Greek or Roman centurions of modern or ancient 
times, have produced, ever, a superior. to our own 
Stonewall Jackson. His name will ride triumph- 
ant the tide of time, while those who couple with 
it the vile name of traitor will be lost in the eter- 
nal shades of oblivion. 

And now, slumbering comrades, we sadly and 
solemnly leave you in the grave of glorious 
immortality, and hope to meet you in the broad, 
broad hereafter ; for you fought for liberty, you fell 
for your country, you died on the field of honor. 



348 Scholastic Literature, 



ALL EARTHLY THINGS ARE TRAN- 
SIENT. 



BY MOLLIE CRUNK. 



The theme which I have selected, and upon 
which I have attempted to write, is truly worthy 
the attention of us all. When we think for a mo- 
ment how soon every thing which we hold dear to 
ourselves shall have been swept from the face of 
the earth, serious thoughts engage our attention, 
and we are prone to inquire, Why should such 
things happen at all ? In glancing at the history 
of all nations, we are made acquainted with the 
fact that no nation has ever existed for all time. 
We have also arrived at the conclusion that such 
things were intended from the creation of the 
world, and God has reserved the control of all 
nations to himself, that man may not forget the 
great moral lesson of humility and dependence. 

In glancing over the history of this continent, 
we learn that it was originally inhabited by a race 
of people who, in point of intelligence, were far 
inferior to the present inhabitants of the country. 



All Earthly Things are Transient. 349 

As a race, they have withered from the land. 
Such will evidently be the condition of the human 
race. In years to come, the familiar faces around 
us will have been swept from the earth. While 
we examine the world's books of history, let us 
reflect what has become of the great nations whose 
deeds are there recorded. The Assyrian Empire 
is a howling wilderness, and the most diligent 
search has failed to discover the foundation of the 
walls of Babylon. Nowhere in the Persian do- 
minions can be found any relics of Cyrus and his 
splendid court, or Xerxes and his three millions 
of soldiers. Go to the domain of the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, which seems to have been the spot 
selected by the Almighty as the scene of the 
grandest achievements of the human race, and you 
will find nothing but the ruins of empires and the 
wrecks of greatness, from the Pillars of Hercules 
to the threshold of Constantinople. We may ex- 
pect the same to happen to our lovely country in 
the course of time. We have no reason to believe 
that we shall escape the universal doom which 
seems to hang over the nations of the earth. 

The wisest men have proclaimed that the things 
which have been shall be, and a greater than 
Solomon has pointed to the word " Decay," writ- 
ten with the ringer of God on the door-posts of 
the temple of earthly grandeur. When we look 
around us, whether in the halls of mirth and 



350 Scholastic Literature. 

gayety, or where the young, in all their simplicity, 
meet, we are alike impressed with the belief that 
youth and beauty must soon pass away. 

In the next place, I cite you to the sturdy oak 
of the forest. See its tall branches, see its wav- 
ing foliage, see its wide-spreading shade. It has 
been king of the forest for centuries, but change 
is depicted in every leaf. " Passing away" is its 
destiny as well as all other earthly things. Look 
to the splendid cities built by men, with their tall 
spires penetrating the ethereal blue. See their 
wonderful dimensions, see their swinging gardens, 
behold their aerial fish-ponds, behold their high 
and broad walls around them ; but these, with all 
their grandeur and sublimity, are also earthly and 
transient, and old Time, with his withering blasts, 
will soon level all to the ground, and their history 
will only remain to tell that such magnificent 
works once were. 

Let us take a peep into our own destiny, and 
w r e see that we too are transient creatures ; but 
we, as beings, are different from all we have named. 
We bear the impress of Divinity, and have been 
created to live forever. what an astonishing 
fact is this ! We pass away from the vision of 
our companions, but we have a living principle in 
our being that changes its residence for awhile. 
Things have a tendency to return to their ow T n 
original — the body to mother dust, and the spirit 



All Earthly Things are Transient. 351 

to God who gave it. On earth, all is change, all 
is transient ; in heaven alone perfection exists and 
purity reigns. Man is transient, deceptive, dying, 
and passing away; but God is immutable and 
eternal, and will assimilate the good like unto him- 
self, and cause that they may rejoice in heaven 
for evermore. 



352 Scholastic Literature, 



THE VOICE OF THE PAST. 

BY B. W. DIXON. 

From the deep, dark recesses of the past there 
comes to the ear of philosophy and of religion a 
voice of warning and of wisdom. It comes from 
the plains of Chaldea; it rises from the vales of 
Palestine ; it murmurs out from the tombs of the 
Nile. It speaks to us of the great king who 
once ruled over the land of the Nile. All w T ho 
met him paid him reverence. Millions rose up at 
his bidding, and came and went again at his com- 
mand. In the pride of his heart, he built him a 
city, from whose hundred gates there issued out 
a hundred thousand warriors, all clad in armor, 
ready to carry dominion, destruction, and death 
wherever he listed. He erected a statue which, 
by some curious mechanism, saluted with strange 
music the rising sun. He called for his obeisant 
slaves, and they went to the quarry of living 
rock, and dug from the mountain-side the gigantic 
block, and, by means unknown to modern times, 
transported the huge masses to the plains, and 



The Voice of the Past. 353 

there erected a pyramid, to serve as a place of 
burial for his body, and to perpetuate his memo- 
rable name. But of his hundred-gated city nothing 
but ruins remains. His statue has fallen, and no 
longer emits its tones of music. His pyramid 
yet stands ; but of the body it was intended to 
preserve, not a vestige, not a particle of dust re- 
mains; while his name, his very name, is lost — 
lost forever; nor will its echo ever again fall on 
human ears. 

There came another, and he ruled over the 
plains of Chaldea. His dominion extended over 
the Euphrates and Tigris, famed in song. By un- 
hallowed yet successful war, he extended his 
sway over the Jordan, whose limpid waters were 
sacred to the chosen people of the Most High, and 
over the sweet-gliding Kedron. At noonday he 
walked out on his palace-roof, and looked over the 
magnificent city he had built, and boasted that he 
was greater than all kings, and even aspired to 
equal the Most High. 

Next came he of Persia's wide-extended realms. 
In his arrogance, he scourged the sea for having 
interfered with his plans. Along Thermopylae's 
defiles he marched his countless hosts. A hun- 
dred years passed, and his warriors were gone, 
his obeisant followers gone — all gone; his king- 
dom was subverted, and himself forgotten. 

Then came another- — he of Macedon, preemi- 



354 Scholastic Literature. 

nently called "the Great" — the self-styled son of 
Ammon. On the utmost boundaries of the habit- 
able globe the tramp of his fiery steed was heard. 
From the jungle of the Indus, the tiger was 
startled by the clattering of his hosts. When 
he had conquered the world, he sat down on the 
shores of the Indian Ocean, and wept that there 
was not another world for him to conquer. But 
where is he now? What remains of him but his 
name? Who knows the place of his grave? Where 
is his kingdom — his kingdom of universal do- 
minion ? 

Next came he of the sunny Tiber. Before him 
the swift Parthian fled, and from his warlike 
strokes the fierce Gaul recoiled. The Briton, 
dwelling in the ultima thule of the ocean, trem- 
bled at his name. To him the liberty -loving 
people of Borne offered a crown, which he wisely 
refused in name, yet received in fact. His em- 
pire he bounded by the ocean, his fame by the 
stars. The city where he dwelt men called the 
Eternal. And what now remains of him, or of 
the Eternal City of his honor? 

There came another. From, the shores of the 
frozen North he rushed down on the plains of 
Italy. He boastfully declared that not a blade 
of grass ever grew beneath where his horse had 
trod. His legions of wild and savage barbarians 
did his bidding in spoiling the earth, and sacking 



The Voice of the Past 355 

its cities, and deluging its plains with blood. But 
his horse's tramp has long since ceased to sound, 
and the grass has grown green again. He him- 
self lies, unknown and unhonored, beneath the 
Busentian waters. His hosts have vanished like 
a shadow, and the earth is at rest again. 

Ages passed away, and there came another 
still. From the Mediterranean isle he suddenly 
blazed with dazzling brilliancy on the eyes of 
men. The darkness of despotic power retired be- 
fore him. At his approach the thrones of kings 
tottered, and fell, and crumbled. Kings and queens 
came down on the plain, and bowed the knee, and 
kissed his hand. He stamped on the earth, and 
there sprang up men armed to the teeth, ready to 
do battle for him, either on the burning sands of 
Egypt, or along the sunny plains of Italy, or amid 
the unbounded forests of Russia. He brought 
down the eagle of Austria, grappled with the bear 
of Russia, and kept at bay the lion of England. 
His power knew no resistance, his ambition no 
bounds. The people flung their caps in the air, 
and cried: "Long live Napoleon, Emperor of the 
French ! " But over the spirit of his dream there 
came a change. His star, which had shone re- 
splendent on all the landscapes, was shorn of its 
beams in the murky atmosphere of Waterloo. It 
finally set, quenched forever of its fires, in the 
Atlantic Ocean. Far away in the waste of waters, 



356 Scholastic Literature. 

where gallant ships seldom sail, rises high toward 
heaven a bleak and barren rock. Here were spent 
the latter days of him, and here was made the 
grave of him who made the earth tremble. 

" The only, the perpetual dirge 

That 's heard there is the sea-bird's cry ; 
The mournful murmurs of the surge, 

The cloud's deep voice, the wind's low sigh." 



Silent Cities. 357 



SILENT CITIES. 

BY ADDIE BIRMINGHAM. 

While contemplating the ruins and devastations 
of the most famous cities ever erected by the 
hand of man, our minds are filled with indescrib- 
able awe. Strange, indeed, that cities filled with 
all the wealth and luxuries the world could pro- 
duce, and surrounded by walls whose strength 
seemed to bid defiance to time, should now lie 
moldering in the dust! But such is the case. 
Those splendid palaces, whose halls were the 
scenes of festive magnificence, and thronged by 
individuals whom Death has long since claimed as 
his own, once the seat of luxury and vice, but 
now abandoned to decay, serve as dens for wild 
beasts. 

Where now is ancient Nineveh? It was once 
a great and beautiful city, but now it is a place of 
desolation. No vestige of it remains ; no monu- 
ment is left to mark the place where it once stood. 
Where is old Babylon, which was far superior, 
both in beauty and size, to Nineveh? It is cut 



o 



58 Scholastic Literature. 



down to the ground ; it is now a silent scene — a 
sublime solitude. Where once stood the splendid 
palaces of this city, whose walls resounded to 
voices that have long since been stilled, are now 
heaps of ruins ; and among them is heard the hoot 
of the owl, the growl of the tiger, and the roar 
of the lion. And where are the Jews, who hung 
their harps on the willow- trees? They sleep in 
the mausoleum of ages. The breezes waft sweet 
music through the trees, and the river near Baby- 
lon murmurs a dirge over its buried greatness; 
yet the slumberers wake not, and the occupants 
of the tomb heed it not. The highest mound 
among the ruins, which has the appearance of a 
high hill, was once the great Temple of Belus, 
said to be the most elevated structure of man, 
being higher than the greatest of the Egyptian 
pyramids. The wonderful walls of Babylon, where 
are they now? They are utterly broken down; 
no trace of them can be found; and this, the 
pride of the world, the glory of kingdoms — the 
Golden City, as it was called — is no more. Nothing 
but ruins remain to indicate that it was ever in- 
habited. 

Tyre is another famous city whose glory has 
departed. It was renowned for luxury, wealth, 
and commerce; but the Chaldeans waged war 
against it, and leveled it to the dust. This once 
proud city, the mistress of the sea, is now a place 



Silent Cities. 359 

of gloom and solitude. Where are the. cities of 
ancient Egypt — her Thebes and her Memphis? 
They have long since slumbered in the dust; the 
temples used as places of worship are now hid- 
ing-places for serpents. Like other cities which 
yielded to the crashing hand of Time, was Pal- 
myra, Baalbec, and Jerusalem, which are now in 
ruins. 

Jerusalem, the city of God, has been hum- 
bled to the ground; which serves to remind us 
we are only reared to flourish awhile, and then 
fade and pass away. Her temples are now filled 
with wild beasts; the splendid palace of Solomon 
has been searched for in vain, and the thousands 
of worshipers who used to gather in the temple 
have long since slept in the silent grave, and the 
rank weeds wave over their crumbling bones. If 
we could visit the place where stood the cities of 
Sparta and Athens, we could there see the wreck 
of former glory — the homes of philosophers, he- 
roes, poets, and statesmen, who now sleep in the 
solemn and sublime city of the dead. Where is 
the proud city of Rome, which boasted of having 
conquered the whole world? She has fallen, and 
her history has been written in characters of 
blood. 

Melancholy, indeed, are the ruins of old Rome. 
This immense city — the Queen of the Seven 
Hills, the terror of nations — which had been en- 



360 Scholastic Literature. 

riched by the spoil of the whole world, with all 
her pomp and glory, has wasted away, until noth- 
ing remains but fragments of its former magnifi- 
cent edifices. 



The Self-conceited Student. 361 



THE SELF-CONCEITED STUDENT. 

BY J. C. TALLEY. 

We are here before you, on this pleasant occa- 
sion, to present a few thoughts concerning the 
self-conceited student. Man, left to himself, is 
vain. Evil imaginations seem to flow forth from 
his vain mind as natural as sparks are to fly up- 
ward. Yain and doting parents ever have an ex- 
alted opinion of their children's talents. In their 
lofty imaginations, they conceive them acting a 
noble and laudable part in life's drama. They are 
so vain as to imagine their little boy, playing by 
their side, superior to all boys — smart enough for 
a king; shrewd enough to make his Way through 
this vain world; in a word, having a foundation 
sufficient for building a magnificent edifice or 
castle, thereby outstripping all who have gone be- 
fore him. Deluded by such overwhelming fond- 
ness, they are constantly flattering him, telling 
him of a bright future and coming greatness. 

Unfortunately, many a boy's hopes and expec- 
tations are too much elated by such high-strung 
16 



o 



62 Scholastic Literature. 



songs of flattery, and when he looks into his own 
being as he really is, then it is he soon learns, to 
his sorrow, that his talent has been overrated. 
Such sweet-sounding eulogy from parents falls 
sweetly upon the heart of the gay boy, though it 
blights and withers his mind, renders him vain- 
glorious and self-conceited, and causes him to enter 
school with the deluded notion that it is almost 
useless for him to apply himself very closely; 
" For I am," he imagines, " destined, with or with- 
out this, to become a great man." A few short 
months, or years at most, are thought sufficient to 
complete his school-boy education ; and as soon as 
he has gathered a smattering knowledge of orthog- 
raphy and syntax, etc., he is hurried off to col- 
lege. He enters college full of joy and hope, 
firmly believing that he is, erelong, destined to 
have the green wreath of fame twined around his 
brow. 

But such bright hopes of earthly glory often 
impede the progress of the student. He is now 
in a new field. New associates and new things 
present themselves to him; but the self-conceited 
young man is vain enough to think himself the 
brightest jewel of the age, and begins what the 
more thoughtful would term arduous work, and at 
the same time knowing that the ladder of Fame's 
proud temple is to be ascended only step by step, 
and that, too, by the assistance of those already 



The Self-conceited Student. 363 

experienced in its narrow but delightful limits. 
The self-conceited begins the culture of his mind, 
honestly believing himself to be a natural genius. 
He deems it unnecessary for him to plod over 
books, and pay attention to the moral and intel- 
lectual lectures assigned and made by professors. 
"0 yes! my native talent itself is good enough 
to pilot me safely into the haven of glory; and 
hence, when I shall have arrived at the last point 
to be gained by such formal exercises, I shall be 
covered all over in glory — too proud for this cold, 
ignorant world." In these hopeful dreams he fan- 
cies himself rivaling the renown of Demosthenes, 
(the great prince of orators,) winning the smile 
of a Milton's muse, eclipsing a Bacon in profound 
thought, and far surpassing a Newton or a Her- 
schel in scientific investigations. 

Can there be an associate found for this builder 
of castles? Would not a Washington be con- 
founded? Would not a Webster cover his face in 
the mantle of shame, and cry : " Proud, but great 
boy, there are no more laurels to be gained"? But 
unfortunately for such a student, he never scales 
the ladder of Fame's proud temple; never real- 
izes his bright hopes and lofty expectations, which, 
instead of being beneficial, prove to be detrimental; 
for much self-conceit, and self-confidence in the 
erroneous conviction that he is far superior to any 
of his associates, makes him so bigoted as to place 



364 Scholastic Literature. 

his knowledge upon an equal footing with his pro- 
fessors', and to consider it in many instances a 
little more correct, and better adapted to the times. 
Did a youth ever entertain a more erroneous and 
injurious opinion than this of himself? Can he 
be more contemptible? for it is a just criterion of 
insignificance and the humblest abilities. 

What kind of opinion does such a student have 
of his fellow-students? He looks upon them as 
the mere shadows of scholars. He imagines his 
mind and thoughts to tower as high above these 
(his college compeers) as heaven is above earth, 
or as the lofty oak is above the common brush- 
wood. He considers it a tarnish to his dignity, a 
stain to his scholarship, a humiliation to his mind, 
even to glance at those perplexing problems of 
science which for hours employ his class-mates in 
deep study and contemplation. He regards their 
intellects, compared with his, so dull and stupid, 
that he can excel them by promenading the 
streets, whining his cigar, and lingering about 
places of pleasure. 

Some of these young men think it not of much 
consequence to have a diploma, or a merited rec- 
ommendation, to leave college and places of high 
learning before graduating, and cease to harass 
their soft brain with the study of classic lore. 
Others think it best to remain and to graduate; 
not because of the benefit to be derived therefrom, 



The Self-conceited Student. 365 

but because it is fashionable and sounds large, and 
hereafter they shall have but little trouble to move 
in any circle. After they shall have been in the 
profession, and been dragged through the acad- 
emies and colleges by their class-mates with badly- 
recited lessons, they are nothing more nor less 
than conceited blockheads. Who is to blame for 
this blindness — for this failure? Is their adopted 
college? are their associates ? are their professors 
or teachers? No; the scenes around us respond 
that it is neither. The cutting jokes of profes- 
sors, the willing bands of class-mates, and the 
most severe exactions of the strictest colleges or 
academies, can do nothing — cannot drive self-con- 
ceit from their narrow brains. Such remedies 
have power; but they are powerless upon such, 
which, when deeply rooted, has no cure, but is 
ready to be cast out and trodden under foot of 
men. It is a canker-worm which gnaws at the 
brain until it consumes it, or leads the invalid to 
the asylum of fools. 

How does such a student pass away his time at 
school? Why, in brushing his fine clothes, smooth- 
ing his glossy hair, curling the down upon his 
chin, and culling flowers to send to his sweet- 
heart, who is insulted by his unwelcome emblems. 
All this fills his soft brain, rather than engaging 
himself in polishing his mind. He goes out into 
the world, a hiss-word by all, notwithstanding he 



366 Scholastic Literature, 

has roved over classic grounds, and leaned against 
college walls. His friends doubtless expected 
much of him; but alas! to their mortification, 
they readily learn that his mind is sordid, and 
that he has been a regular devotee to pleasure, 
and a victim to bigotry; and at last his friends 
are forced to point the finger of scorn, and ex- 
claim : " There is creation's blot, creation's blank." 
Then youths had better not entertain too high an 
opinion of themselves. 

"Created, half to rise, or half to fall; 
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; 
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled, 
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world," 



"Life is What We Make It? 367 



"LIFE IS WHAT WE MAKE IT." 

BY MATTIE ELLIOTT. 

Many sayings of the wise and the learned have 
coursed their way into our moral and monitory ex- 
istence which have been used, from time immemo- 
rial, with fine effect upon our community ; maxims 
of beauty and wisdom have been dropped down, 
through the vicissitudes of time, by which we have 
been edified and improved ; but, as a maxim, the 
theme of my composition seems to be at the foun- 
dation of all others. Lord Byron has said : 
" Know thyself is worth whole pages of advice." 
This, indeed, pictures the great wisdom of its 
author, and is a wise inquisition that should be 
heeded by all men ; but when we say, " Life is 
what we make it," we bring down upon all man- 
kind the terrible responsibility of their own ways 
and doings. We truly call ourselves our own 
moral agents. Then it is, if we occupy that low 
and insignificant sphere in life — if we are strollers 
from place to place, or droop about as useless vaga- 



368 Scholastic Literature. 

bonds, skulking beneath the scorns and contempt 
of those who have chosen a better lot, we must 
remember that we made ourselves this unworthy 
station ; but if we should choose to walk in the 
paths of honor, and court the happy association 
of the great, the wise, and the good, and should 
we succeed in giving our lives to some noble pur- 
pose, we may claim the honor of being what we 
made ourselves. 

Hundreds and thousands of beautiful examples 
now stand on the pages of history, as a living 
light to those who will walk by the lamp of ex- 
perience, and to confirm the truth of our subject. 
Benjamin Franklin, one of memory's great men, 
was ever an unnatural lad, eating his baker's bread 
on the street-corners ; but soon his great mind be- 
gan to take hold of literature and science. His 
fame began to spread, until his name had reverber- 
ated throughout all the civilized world, and he 
died beloved and cherished by all. His life was a 
life devoted to his country ; his life was what he 
made it. Washington, whose strong nerve wit- 
nessed the frowning fields of courage, and won 
universal independence, spent a life of devotion, 
and spent it for the love of his country, for whom 
the grateful will ever have a secret chamber in 
their hearts. Washington made himself the be- 
loved of all. So it is in this happy age of science 
and literature. When the sciences dawned, these 



"Life is What We Make It." 369 

great lights and the dark, dense mist of supersti- 
tion and ignorance lifted their shadowy wings from 
over the land and fled away, and the mighty power 
of reason has filled the land with noble spirits. 
Now it is we may joyfully say we are our own 
agents. 'Tis true that many doleful hours may 
come, despair overtake the soul ; hut the buoyant 
heart may break the fetters, and outride the ad- 
verse waves, and make a life great and useful. 
Yet again, the sluggard may sleep on, and longer 
sleep until the high-noon is past, and the eve of 
life is come, and, miserable wretch, he must stand 
upon the verge of time by tormented graves. He 
has made himself what he is. And again, a man 
has only to stretch forth his hand, and it is filled 
with Heaven's choicest gifts ; he may step for- 
ward in the paths of honor ; he may rejoice in the 
associations of the great and good ; may make 
life's paths flowery and easy, and glide sweetly 
down the unruffled stream, and drop into death's 
embrace with quiet conscience, that wafts the soul 
away on angels' wings to the happy land. how 
vastly important it is that all should heed the ad- 
monition of this ennobling maxim : " Life is what 
we make it." Let the youthful mind shrink to 
behold corrupt humanity : they made themselves 
thus. Let all know that there is, in the rich frui- 
tion of Heaven, a store to fill the heart of all with 
joy and comfort — to make our lives peaceful and 
16* 



370 Scholastic Literature. 

happy ; an arm of strength that will bear us be- 
yond the Jordan to a blissful shore. 

" 'T is well to let our motto be, 
' Choose the life so happy and free ; ' 
Since we must be our agents here, 
Let our God be our agent there. 

"And as life is passing away, 
Gather thou comfort's sweetest spray; 
So while in life use the leaven, 
Which secures us a place in heaven." 



Confederate Dead. 371 



CONFEDERATE DEAD. 

BY W. J. McCONNEL. 

Whilst others have endeavored to interest you 
with subjects that are rich and rare, permit me to 
call your attention to this. Wherever lies a soldier's 
corpse, there we would fain do honor. Nameless 
may it be; unutterably precious; unmarked its 
spot; the memory of its occupant is immortal. 
Alas ! how numerous are those graves around every 
Northern prison and Southern hospital; upon 
every stricken battle-field ; upon the top of every 
mountain, kissed by the last lingering ray of the 
Southern sun, and in the depths of every lonely 
valley ; by the side of the highways and byways ; 
near the busy marts of engrossed men, or the bank 
of the distant brook, whose babbling waters sing 
sweetest music to their memory; in the dreary 
pine forest, whose sobbing misery is never stilled; 
under rushing waters of the great rivers, whose 
bosoms, untouched by remembrance of their hid- 
den dead, bear the commerce of States ; on the 
shores of gulf and ocean, the ceaseless murmur of 



372 Scholastic Literature. 

whose waves are fit requiems for the lives they 
gave, lie these heroic men, who sealed their devo- 
tion with their lives, and laid them upon the altar 
before which they bowed, more consecrated than 
any spot on earth, save that of Mount Calvary. 

I am here to make no eulogy on the cause for 
which they were martyrs, but to bring fresh 
thoughts of the past — to weep, not to praise ; to 
mourn, not to defend. They are our dead, loved 
with a passionate idolatry, mourned with an un- 
utterable agony ! Two hundred thousand of them ! 
See the interminable army of the dead, as it 
marches to that bourn whence no traveler ever 
returns ! 

The noble Zollicoffer, whose spirit went to God 
from the mire of Mill Springs ; the lofty genius, 
Sydney Johnson — grand old Roman — ay, grander 
than a Roman; the Christian soldier, whose life 
was the price of Chancellorsville ; the knightly 
Stuart, whose plumed head bowed to no less an 
enemy than death; the bishop -hero, Leonidas 
Polk ; the gallant boy, Pelham ; our own great 
Hanson; our loved cavalier, Morgan, with their 
Kentucky and Tennessee comrades, so dear to our 
hearts ; the courtly and chivalric Hill, who would 
not live to see his country die — the glorious hosts 
are worthy of such chieftains. 

To the private soldier a fair word of praise is 
clue; and though it is so seldom given, and so 



Confederate Dead. 373 

rarely expected, that it may be considered out of 
place, I cannot, in justice to myself, withhold the 
opinion ever entertained, and so often expressed, 
during our struggle for independence. 

In the absence of instruction and discipline in 
our armies, and of the confidence which long as- 
sociations produced between veterans, we had, in 
a great measure, to trust to the individuality and 
self-reliance of the private soldier. Well has it 
been said, The first monument which our Confed- 
eracy raises, when our independence shall have 
been won, should be a lofty shaft, pure and spot- 
less, bearing this inscription : " To the unknown 
and unrecorded dead." 

To the privates and subalterns of that glorious 
army we bow our heads in reverence, and we ought, 
with God's blessing, to perpetuate the memory of 
their lives and deeds, and beautify their graves 
with rich testimonials of our affections. We honor 
him who, unknown, and without hope of fame, 
urged by pure patriotism, and supported by an 
enthusiastic devotion to liberty and right, marched, 
fought, and died for a country he loved, and a cause 
he believed right. Ah ! in that long array, how 
many who hear me have lost a brother ! You gave 
to it a son ; you a husband ; you a father ; and 
you one who had won the rich love of your pure 
young heart, but death hath stolen him ere he 
had crowned you with his name. 



374: Scholastic Literature. 

As we have decorated those strangers' graves at 
Franklin, Mount Olivet, and many other places, 
perhaps those whose dead lie here will do similar 
honor to Tennessee dead. Will she evermore turn 
from those distant graves of her young sons, whose 
deeds of heroism have woven around her brow a 
chaplet of undying glory? Will she not some 
day, when these sad times are passed, with loving 
care, search for and gather up their bodies, and 
enfold them with tearful reverence in her own 
throbbing heart? Never was she loved as they 
loved her ; never had she sons more deserving her 
love ! Strangers' graves, said I ? I did say truly, 
Are those who lie here, representing the ten Con- 
federate States, strangers to us ? No, no, brothers; 
nearer by a tie closer than blood ; dearer than com- 
mon memories of childhood. 

In the presence of fathers and mothers, perhaps, 
who have lost sons, and many other sympathizing 
persons whom I have the honor to address, and in 
the sight of God, I feel that it would be sacrilege 
to utter one word that is not in every sense true. 
With this solemn thought pressing upon me, I be- 
lieve I utter the sentiments of those who hear me 
when I say that I trust the day may come when 
such a peace will bless our land that all the living 
will lovingly do honor to the dead. 

ye gallant soldiers, who sleep beneath thy 
banners bright, unsullied as the stars — 



Confederate Dead. 375 

"What need of marble monuments to tell your deeds of 

glory, 
"When your graves have proudly told the story?" 

We are all Americans. We are citizens of a 
common country, in whose destinies are involved 
those of the rising generation. Around us, on 
nearly every side, lie buried the dead of all. On 
that resurrection morning, all will rise, side by 
side, to meet Him who died for all. Religion, 
patriotism, the love w T e bear for our own friends, 
alike appeal, with eloquent earnestness, for the re- 
turn of the day of good feeling and brotherly love. 
To the dead I have no enmity ; to the heroic dead 
I have no feeling but of respect. I loved that 
cause — I would have given my future prospects 
for it. But I cannot fail to recognize that it, too, 
is dead. Like the dead child, with bitter tears 
and broken heart, I would mourn its loss, and 
commit its future to the God who doeth all things 
wisely and mercifully. Inscrutable may be His 
providences; but, reverently bowing, all we can 
do is to murmur through our tears, "Thy will be 
done." 



376 Scholastic Literature. 



FEMALE REPUTATION. 

BY MATTIE E. DARNALL. 

In the selection of a theme for my composition 
for this occasion, I have ventured to offer a few 
thoughts on the subject of female reputation; and 
in the presentation of a few very brief sketches 
that I may be able to offer, I trust that no one 
present will consider me perfectly adequate to 
such a task; for the theme itself is of such a 
magnitude that the tongues of angels and the 
pens of philosophers never could exhaust it. 

Nothing is more valuable to a female than an 
unsullied reputation. The painter may draw the 
perfect image of the human body; the milliner 
may adorn it with all the ingenuity at her com- 
mand; but nothing is so endearing and so perma- 
nent as reputation. Any one may lose all she 
has acquired in the pecuniary department ; friends 
may desert in time of need; the very last ray of 
earthly hope may take its flight; but if female 
reputation can be retained, all things else will 
again turn out right. Though many persons are 



Female Reputation. 377 

inclined to err from the path of rectitude, and 
seem greatly delighted to revel in the paths of 
vice and folly, yet the greatest of all treasures on 
earth is a good name — more to be desired, says 
the wise man Solomon, than great riches. By 
constant adherence to the great moral pointers, 
such as love for God and our fellow-creatures, the 
cultivation of the moral sensibilities of the soul, 
the suppression of all the evil propensities of a 
well-cultivated conscience, young people may ob- 
tain for themselves the favor and esteem of the 
good and pious of the earth. They may endear 
to them those whose assistance they may some- 
time need in after-life. 

Young people should consider themselves placed 
in the center of a circle, and their constant effort 
ought to be to render themselves acceptable to all 
within their respective circumferences. The young 
should be centripetal and centrifugal in their ef- 
forts and aims: centripetal, in clustering around 
them those graces of character that gather the 
smiles, good wishes, and affections of all with 
whom they may come in contact in the society of 
respectable circles; and they should be centri- 
fugal in their tendency to give off and diffuse 
those cherished virtues that will render all happy 
to whom they may be imparted, and thus young 
people will be respected and esteemed by all the 
good of earth. 



378 Scholastic Literature. 

In the last place, my female associates, what is 
woman without reputation ? Man may fall into 
sin — he may disgrace himself in reveling, and 
have for some time the odium of society resting 
upon him ; yet he may turn from these errors, and 
he may be forgiven, and restored to respectable 
society again. But if poor, weak, and faltering 
woman happen to make a mistake in deportment, 
every tattler from Dan to Beersheba is sounding 
the note in fullest strain. Yes, a blot once upon 
her angelic reputation, and the die is cast ; her 
race is run ; she sinks, without remedy, into eter- 
nal oblivion; society receives her with a hiss; all 
look upon her with ridicule and contempt; gene- 
ration after generation passes off the stage of ac- 
tion, yet her fault is still remembered. 

Now, these things being true, how important 
for the female to secure that reputation that will 
honor her, and her posterity after her! The 
female may possess millions of gold, and may 
attempt to associate in the highest circle of culti- 
vated society; but if only one little stain has 
been attached to the escutcheon of her reputation, 
she is ruined forever, and will only be considered 
because of wealth. 

In conclusion, then, I will say, the noblest at- 
tainment for a woman is to obtain an unsullied 
reputation; stand firm on the substantial basis 
that goodness and kindness are the passports to 



Female Reputation. 379 

reputation. And what shall I say more? Enough 
has been said to convince any one that true great- 
ness can only be attained by active goodness, and 
that true goodness emanates from the fountain of 
sublime perfection. 



380 Scholastic Literature. 



MOBOCEACY. 

BY W. M. DAVIS. 

Good government, founded upon a free basis, 
has called forth learned essays from the wisest 
statesmen of the world, and for it the best blood 
that ever flowed in human veins has been poured 
out upon the sanguinary field of battle; and 
throughout the broad land liberty has, upon the 
fragments of fallen despotism, erected her altars, 
and the best genius of the world now worships at 
her feet. It was for this the Grecian patriots 
fought ; it was for this, the noblest Roman died ; 
it was for this the heroes of '76 lifted high the 
torch of civil war, and by its light planted free- 
dom's banner in every temple, from the lakes of 
the North to the Montezumas of the South ; and 
it was for this that the swords of the immortal 
Lee, Jackson, Hill, and Longstreet, and their 
legions in gray, flashed on the hills of Gettysburg, 
and streamed back through the South, until re- 
flected by the waters of the Rio Grande, in the 
West ; it was for this become 



Mobocracy, 381 

u The land with a grave in each spot, 
With bodies in the grave that will ne'er be forgot." 

Notwithstanding good government has cost the 
best blood and treasure of the world, and has been 
the anchor of civilization, and the hopes of good 
men everywhere ; notwithstanding the only safe- 
guard of legal liberty is in the impartial adminis- 
tration of civil government, and a cheerful obedi- 
ence thereto, yet there are those among us who 
love chaotic confusion of misrule and mobocracy, 
who hate all government save the command of 
some popular chief, from the authority of their 
teacher to that of their God. Would you know 
them ? They are 

" The brute crowd, whose envious zeal 
Huzzas each turn of Fortune's wheel, 
And loudest shouts when lowest lie 
Exalted worth and stations high." 

They are a scourge to the commonwealth, more to 
be dreaded than pestilence or famine; a canker on 
the body politic that is eating out the life of the 
Republic. The same spirit that actuates the mob 
in America has swelled the number of brigands 
in Mexico, until twenty thousand regular troops 
are employed and paid by the government to hunt 
them down ; but such poor success has crowned 
the effort that the bold marauders have engrafted 
robbery in the morals of the people, and brigand- 



382 Scholastic Literature. 

age has "become respectable, and robber bands have 
grown to a power coextensive with the govern- 
ment itself. What law-abiding people and peace- 
loving citizens can to-day look American society 
square in the face, and not tremble at its mobo- 
cratic brigandage face ? That spirit has penetrated 
and permeated every nook and corner of American 
society, from the Church of Christ to the Union 
Leagues of negro freedom. What is it that is 
carried to a successful termination, no matter how 
worthy the enterprise, or how laudable the effort, 
but has to contend with the fierce resistance of 
this many-headed monster ? Yea, in this land of 
free institutions, where the beacon of liberty first 
flashed from the cloud of war, and lit up the 
temple of freedom — in this land of enterprising 
hope, where industry has assured a success, and 
talent a triumph, we are unable to pursue our 
daily avocations in life without having to contend 
with this cowardly brigandage; not the bold, dar- 
ing knights of the carbine that give Mexico so 
much trouble, but a banditti of the unsuccessful 
of your own profession or business, who pursue 
you in the dark, not with knife or gun, but with 
that malignant hatred that turns pale and sickens 
even if a friend prevail — 

"Which merit and success pursue with hate, 
And damns the worth it cannot imitate." 



Monocracy. 383 

And take the gentlemen of the robe. They 
keep a close watch on the successful, and under 
the cover of politics, or religion, attempt to rob 
them, not of their money, but — what is more valu- 
able — their reputation. In their disappointed 
sanctums they coin a vile slander, and the foul- 
mouthed and hungry pack that yelp around gives 
it currency. They " spot " men, as they call it ; 
and, like their prototypes, the Mexican plagiarist, 
always "spot" some one that is able to pay the 
largest ransom; and as legions could not save the 
one, neither could the other be saved if the venom 
tongues of those whom ruin pleases could destroy. 

Who before me has ever attained any thing like 
a respectable position in his business or profession, 
but has had to contend with these banditti of un- 
worthy men of the same profession or business ? 
But does this mobocratic spirit end here? No; 
like corruption, it is a tree whose branches are of 
an unmeasurable length — they spread everywhere; 
and the dew that drops from them hath infected 
some chairs and stools of authority. No voice 
has sounded from the halls of our National Legis- 
lature for the last eight years but the hideous 
clamor of the political mob — the upheavings of 
civil war thrust in power — and no measure adopt- 
ed but what tends to secure that power over the 
will of those who sent them there. The State 
governments, in a greater or less degree, present 



384 Scholastic Literature. 

the same melancholy spectacle. In the name of 
loyalty to political party, men commit all manner 
of crime; perjury is respectable, and robbery ex- 
cusable, upon the ground that political ends de- 
mand it. To-day but one voice comes from Ameri- 
can society, and that is, "He should take who has 
the authority, and he should keep who can." 

Mobocracy is the disease of which this Repub- 
lic must die. It has chilled the great heart of the 
Government, and she is rapidly declining. All 
history proclaims with a loud, unbroken voice, the 
coming dissolution. What a melancholy thought 
that this Republic, so young and so powerful, must 
perish and pass away without the hope of resur- 
rection ! The buds and flowers of earth fade leaf 
by leaf, and are withered by the howling blasts 
of winter ; but spring's pleasant, balmy winds and 
rains renew their vigor, and they bud and bloom 
again. At times, the black and portentous clouds 
overspread the sky, and hide from earth the em- 
blazonry of God ; but we know it cannot perish — 
that it will shine again. Man himself lingers but 
a moment around the dismal tomb, and life is re- 
newed and becomes an endless splendor. Not so 
with the corpse of a republic. Nowhere in the 
dreary regions of the past has the angel's resur- 
rection descended upon the tomb of a free com- 
monwealth. No grip has been found powerful 
enough to raise the corpse of a dead republic. 



Monocracy. 385 

There is no power on earth sufficient to roll away 
the stone from the sepulcher of freedom, or wrench 
open the jaws of death, and release the victim of 
despotism. Nowhere in the history of the world 
is there an instance where the boon of liberty 
was given a people, and they forfeited it, and 
afterward regained the treasure. for a hand 
to stay the fickle, frenzied, maddened rush of a 
people from liberty to despotism ! for the power 
to save a dying republic ! 
17 



386 Scholastic Literature. 



SCIENCE. 

BY J. C. DARNALL. 

Since man was first hurled from the Elysian 
fields of blissful Paradise, driven from the pres- 
ence of his God, and deprived of the holy foun- 
tains and consecrated bowers of Eden, few things 
have so elevated his soul, or shed so ameliorating 
and heavenly an influence upon his benighted 
mind, as science has. Science is that resplendent 
sun of light, whose glory-wreathed beams far tran- 
scend the height of that effulgent orb that governs 
the solar world, and around which, in beauty and 
order, suns and systems roll; it is that constella- 
tion around whose burning axle a halo of glory 
has ever shone, elevating the proud soul of man 
to holier and loftier themes, and giving it juster 
.conceptions of Nature and Nature's God. 

When we remove the veil that intervenes be- 
tween us and the past, look back through the 
dim vista of ages gone by, scale the towering ac- 
clivities of time to the twilight of science, and 
take a panoramic view of things as they then 



Science. 387 

were, a scene at once moving, pathetic, and sub- 
lime arises to our astoundeH and awe -stricken 
view. Then there was to be seen a world of sin- 
contaminated beings, enshrouded in a veil of big- 
otry and superstition, groveling in thick darkness, 
bound by the iron scepter of despotism in chains 
of slavery, perpetual and unremitted. But what 
change has science wrought? what wonders has it 
accomplished? It is that power beneath whose 
influence thrones, dominions, princedoms, have 
trembled, despots fallen, manacles broken, tyranny 
almost died. Greece, unrivaled Greece, was the 
first to burst the bonds of despotism, and open 
her fertile breast for the reception of science, and 
the cultivation of its immortal truths ; and thus it 
was that Greece, like fair Cynthia, which nightly 
spreads her glowing wings until she arises at full- 
orbed splendor in the zenith of heaven, arose 
from height to height, until she reached the acme 
of splendor and renown, and became the queen- 
mystery of antiquity — the mistress of the world 
— the grand center around which nations and 
kingdoms, as inferior satellites, moved — the center 
of knowledge, whence emanated the light of the 
world. Yea, that imperishable liberty, and those 
undying maxims that she has transmitted to pos- 
terity — those time -honored sages, philosophers, 
and astronomers, who astounded the world with 
their wisdom and discoveries — those soul-inspiring 



o 



88 Scholastic Literature. 



poets, who hold nations enraptured, charmed, and 
delighted at their will — those sublime orators, 
whose brows were decked with the highest honor 
in the State, and who held the nations at their 
command by the power of their eloquence, owe 
their power, their excellence, to science, and it 
alone ; for, long as the Grecian youths lent an at- 
tentive ear to the Muses' harmonious strains of 
the poet, decked with all the graces that the 
Muses could bestow — so long as they venerated 
the profound philosophers of their country, or 
hung enraptured at the soul -inspiring eloquence 
of her orators, the Goddess of Liberty sat perched 
upon the pinnacle of Freedom's temple, and Greece 
was the center of civilization. But when they 
began to forsake the boundless fields of science, 
her poets were forsaken by the Muse; the power 
of the orator no longer possessed its magic charm ; 
the Goddess of Liberty turned with disgust from 
the scene, and proud, exalted Greece sank deep 
in the kindred gloom of slavery and superstition. 
And thus it was with imperial Rome, though 
decked in the dazzling gems of dilapidated Greece. 
So long as she worshiped at the shrine of science, 
and honored the votaries of its immortal truths, 
she shone forth in all the effulgence of her noon- 
day splendor. On the summit of her unfurled 
banners, that waved in triumph through the balmy 
breezes of the Eastern world, sat the bold bird of 



Science. 389 

liberty perched; and at the fervid wheels of her 
victorious car kings and princes of a conquered 
world were dragged within the adamantine walls 
of her Forum, reverberating the sublimest tones 
of melting eloquence that ever moved the human 
soul. Muse- decked and honor- wreathed poets 
bathed their plumage in the glittering light of the 
stars, reveled in the Elysian fields of fancy, and 
left an undying memorial of their glory that un- 
born generations will view with wonder, astonish- 
ment, and delight. 

But it is to the cultivated mind of the nine- 
teenth century that science opens wide its flood- 
gates of never-ending charms. For man, the earth 
teems with boundless fields of endless instruction 
and delight, decked with variegated beauties that 
hold enraptured his soul at every successive step 
in life. Yes, to him the golden sun pours down 
his glory- wreathed beams of light and life, laden 
with the richest instruction that science teaches 
of that governor and supporter of the solar sys- 
tem; every ray is a dispatch from that solar orb, 
speaking his distance, dimensions, his luminous 
atmosphere, and of the mysterious and almost 
godlike influence that it wields upon this earth 
of ours. The twinkling stars that adorn the ceru- 
lean vault of heaven's high dome remind him of 
those immortal astronomers who, in bygone ages 
of the world, gazed with so much delight on the 



390 Scholastic Literature. 

ceaseless beauties of the same. The fiery-winged 
comet, outstripping thought in its rapid course 
through the star-paved pathway of heaven, brings 
him intelligence of the distance she has penetrated 
into the boundless regions of space; and the gentle 
moon, when night with its sable wings has man- 
tled earth in darkness, and the stars one by one 
lighten up the tenebrous galaxy of the skies, 
pours down her lovely beams of instruction in his 
soul; her towering mountains, terrific volcanoes, 
subterraneous vaults, and wide-spread plains, open 
sources of instruction for the scientific mind of 
which the ignorant never dreamed. 

Yes, science gives to man the keys that unlock 
the grandest treasures and mystery-woven reali- 
ties of the universe — gives him permission to walk 
the heights of glory where angels tread, and to 
hear 

" That undisturbed song of pure consent, 
Aye sung around the sapphire-colored throne, 
To Him that sits thereon ; 
Where the bright seraphim, in burning row, 
Their loud, uplifted angel-trumpets blow, 
And the angelic host, in thousand choirs, 
Touch their celestial harps of golden wires." 



Words, though Sweet, Deceptive. 391 



WORDS, THOUGH SWEET, DECEPTIVE. 

BY JOSIE C. DOSS. 

What a world of delightful thought and sensa- 
tion is here opened to our view by this exquisite 
and strange sentiment ! How mighty are sweet 
words in subduing feelings and in arousing our 
sensibilities ! How fresh are our recollections of 
past words, when we remember past clays and 
past scenes ! Those sweet words, spoken by some 
kind friend, rush through the mind with majestic 
eloquence, and they seem to revive every sensa- 
tion of the past, and we seem to view the circum- 
stances as though directly before us; but alas! 
we have learned, with saddened hearts, that this 
world, to a considerable degree at least, is very 
deceptive. The young, in stepping upon the the- 
atrical platform of life, are too apt to think that 
every thing is just as it seems to be; but after 
having acted a few experimental dramas, they 
find that, though words may fall from the lips 
sweetened with the nectar of the Muses, they 
carry with them, in many instances, the poison of 



392 Scholastic Literature. 

the asp and the sting of the serpent. It requires 
an actual experience in life's trials to enable the 
young to distinguish between sweet words and 
deceptive; and many a youth, trusting to every 
thing as it seems, is hurried down the declivity 
of dissipation, and is plunged into the abyss of an 
everlasting disgrace. 

'Many persons have not given an attentive ear 
to the counsels of the experienced and aged 
people, but with blinded self-conceit have rushed 
headlong into the whirlpool of ignominy. But 
let us never forget the caption of our essay, that 
"words, though sweet, may be deceptive." How 
many a giddy-headed girl has listened to the fas- 
cinating speeches of the dandy, as he would pour 
forth his flattery in torrents of eloquence, with 
the bewitching smile calmly reposing on his de- 
ceptive brow! Yes, he would straighten every 
nerve, rectify every dislocated wrinkle upon his 
old, deceptive cheek, and counterfeit his cunning 
eye, and soften the very tone of his stentorian 
voice, while he would be whirling in his tender 
hands the little rattan that father's money bought, 
or is yet unpaid for. And I need here say no 
more, for so many fops are now experimenting in 
this line, that it is useless to give farther par- 
ticulars. 

But stop. I must not suppose that the young 
men are the only actors upon this deceptive plat- 



Words, though Sweet, Deceptive. 393 

form, for our young lady friends play a full share, 
too; for in dramas the parts appear more accept- 
able when they are carried on by mixture of 
sexes. Will you go with me, in imagination, to 
some of the fashionable picnics carried on in these 
days, and view for a few moments a young lady 
of fashion? She is just about from four feet six 
inches to five feet in stature, symmetrical in pro- 
portion by nature, but very much disproportioned 
by art. She has come from the toilet-table and 
band-box, all her paraphernalia properly adjusted, 
with quivering curls about her snowy neck, and 
with cheeks artificially reddened, and all other 
adornments in their right place. See her ap- 
proached by the plain and hard-handed farmer- 
boy, and will you only behold the contempt- 
uous whirl, and listen to the rattling -silk as she 
spurns his unwelcome presence ! " Get out of my 
presence, you common lad of industry! Let me 
not be disgraced by being seen keeping company 
with you in the clothes your mamma made you ! 
Go home, sir, to your drudgery work ! You have 
not been taught 'the fine arts;' you know nothing 
about keeping company with ladies of modern re- 
finement, and those, especially, understanding all 
the European fashions — even the Grecian bend! 
Go seek, sir, associations more in unison, more 
congenial to your nature!" But just turn your 
eyes for one moment, and you will notice the ap- 
17* 



394 Scholastic Literature. 

proach of that young doctor or that young lawyer, 
or worse, that young man who just does nothing 
at all, but keeps the town, plays checks, and 
stands round to catch all the flying rumors about 
the times. Now notice her, will you? She 
squares herself with a graceful turn of her an- 
gelic form. See those little sparkling eyes, how 
they gaze ! watch those rosy-dewed lips, how ac- 
centive every word falls ! how properly is every 
verb emphasized! how impressive is every adjec- 
tive! and how flushed is the painted cheek, as the 
mustached suitor smilingly and very fascinatingly 
whispers in her listening ear the words of flattery 
and deceit, relating to her fairy triumphs of love- 
tales, building air -castles of worldly aspiration, 
and thus infusing into her deceptive imagination 
the truth of our caption, that "words, though 
sweet, may be deceptive." 

Finally, all things earthly are deceptive; noth- 
ing except divine words are free from its incubus. 
Then, my class-mates, we should look well to the 
appearances of things, for all things of human 
origin are liable to deceive us. 



The Indians Wrongs. 395 



THE INDIAN'S WRONGS. 

BY W. I. SOWELL. 

Living in an age in which the sun of science 
sheds its brilliant rays upon the benighted facul- 
ties of the American mind, thus causing them to 
bud, blossom, and bear the rich fruits of knowl- 
edge; in a land over which the eagle of liberty 
soars with untiring wings, still unable to embrace 
in its unwearied flight the boundaries of freedom's 
home; united, too, by the ties of friendship and 
common interest, we boast ourselves the favorites 
of high Heaven ; and while we have reason to ad- 
mire the bold and adventurous acts which charac- 
terized our ancestors, and while we look back with 
feelings of pride upon some of their noble deeds, 
we cannot but feel pained at the remembrance of 
the many wrongs which have been done to the In- 
dian race. Dark, indeed, were the prospects of 
our pilgrim fathers when they first landed on 
Plymouth Hock, overshadowed as they were by 
the threatening clouds of despair; having been 
driven from their native land by religious dissen- 



396 Scholastic Literature. 

sions, torn away from all the pleasing associations 
of their youth; relying solely on the pole star of 
hope, which seemed destined to go down in the 
gloom of an eternal night. But as its last flicker- 
ing rays were about expiring, fair Fortune smiled, 
and the hand of friendship was extended, welcom- 
ing them to a land designed to be the abode of 
pure liberty and peace. 

What feelings of gratitude, then, should have 
animated each bosom, when thus kindly received 
by the fearless sons of the forest, who, although 
uncultivated, still possessed some traits of charac- 
ter truly magnanimous! And how purely disin- 
terested that generosity which prompted the noble 
Indian to receive with hospitality the tempest- 
tossed wanderers, without the least hope of re- 
muneration! And while we are struck with sur- 
prise and admiration at the exhibition of such 
noble qualities in the untutored savage, the blush 
of shame should mantle our cheeks when contem- 
plating the return which was made him for disin- 
terested kindness. 

Although our forefathers came to America for 
the glorious privilege of serving God according to 
the dictates of their consciences, still it seems that 
they were destitute of gratitude, which is one of 
the noblest feelings that animate the bosom of 
man; for instead of living in peace and amity 
with the race to whom they were so deeply in- 



The Indians Wrongs. 397 

dcbted, instead of instructing them in the arts 
and sciences, instead of teaching them the sacred 
truths embraced in the holy Scriptures, as they 
"became powerful they deprived them of their 
lands, usurped their rights, and thus manifested 
the basest ingratitude. In the intoxicating plea- 
sures of freedom they forgot the bitterness of op- 
pression; and they did the same evil which had 
driven them from their own beloved land, and 
caused them to lay the foundation of this mighty 
republic which acknowledges no superior, and 
they were the first to kindle the sparks of liberty 
which have been fanned into a flame, flooding, as 
it were, the whole world with its radiant beams. 
Still, how unfortunate that deeds of injustice and 
inhumanity should cast a stain upon the history 
of a country otherwise so glorious ! How unfor- 
tunate that we have risen to our present exalted 
position at the sacrifice of so noble and patriotic 
a race as that of the Indians ! It is true, he is 
represented as being most degraded in some of his 
aspirations by many in America; but it is reason- 
able to suppose that those who would deprive him 
of his country would spurn to cast a stigma on 
his character. If it were merely to vindicate 
their base conduct, they would portray him in the 
most unfavorable light; and as it is from the early 
settlers we have derived most of our knowledge 
of the aborigines of America, ungrounded preju- 



398 Scholastic Literature. 

dice has been engendered in our minds, which is 
confirmed by our observation of the remnant of 
that once powerful race, who are not, like their 
proud forefathers, courageous, enterprising, and 
ambitious, but dispirited, degenerated, and brutal- 
ized by contact with civilized men, whose vices 
alone they seem to have imitated. Neither can 
we obtain a correct knowledge of this remarkable 
people from their history, which has been written 
by poets and novelists, who, that they might give 
free scope to their active imaginations, have rep- 
resented them as romantic and sentimental. 

Thus, between the harsh and distorted pictures 
of defamers, and the prismatic delineations of 
those who make fancy their guide, his real genius 
has remained obscure; and while we behold some 
traits of his character which indicate the prompt- 
ing of an evil nature,, we behold other character- 
istics which exhibit great nobleness of soul. If 
he is cruel to his enemies, he is equally hospitable 
to his friends; if he forgives not an injury, nei- 
ther does he fail to reward a kindness; if his 
hatred is lasting, his love is equally unchanging; 
if he would undergo any danger to punish his ene- 
mies, he would suffer any privation to serve his 
friends. He exhibits the same stern, resolute, 
and unbending nature, whether we view him as 
he returns to his family and friends a quivered 
chieftain, or laden with the thunders of the battle- 



The Indians Wrongs. 399 

field. Although as a warrior he has been eclipsed 
by brighter stars in glory's sky, still his reckless 
daring and contempt of death should have ex- 
torted admiration even from his foes ; for while 
the white man rushes to glory or the grave at 
the cannon's mouth, the Indian, with unconquered 
heart, fearlessly contemplates the approach of the 
grim monster, Death, while his last breath is ex- 
pended, and then it is that he casts his fixed eyes 
toward heaven, and is fully exultant in anticipa- 
tion of its eternal joys. 



400 Scholastic Literature. 



GOD AND NATURE. 

BY G. W. COLLINS. 

There is no theme in all the expanded area of 
human thought more natural for the intellectual 
mind to dwell upon than the one above men- 
tioned. It has commanded the attention of the 
most gifted minds that have adorned our common 
humanity. It will ever be classed with those 
that demand the scrutiny of the more educated 
intellects. In looking up through Nature to Na- 
ture's God, how wonderfully harmonious and beau- 
tiful doth the face of the universe appear to our 
view ! We behold the Deity enthroned in splen- 
dor everywhere, and on all things alike. We see 
his love smiling on the petals of flowers and the 
wings of birds, as well as in the brightness of the 
sky and deep azure of the ocean. We hear his 
voice in the octaves of all our music, pealing in 
the deep bass of our Sabbath organs, outpreach- 
ing all our priests, and tolling the bell of thunder, 
hung in clouds that float higher than the Andes. 



God and Nature. 401 

He weaves the fibers of the oak; he twines the 
gleaming threads of the rainbow; he vibrates the 
pendulous sea-waves ; he calls to prayer from the 
heart of the storm. But sweeter — sweeter far 
than all these — he whispers infinite hope and life 
everlasting! 

All this follows from the admission of the im- 
mediate and universal agency and providence of 
God throughout all the realms of Nature. Despair 
can fling no dark shadow on the soul in the pres- 
ence of that sunshine which gilds all things. There 
is no room for doubt when faith fills immensity. 
Atoms and worlds alike become transfigured in 
the new and cryptic light which beams out, as 
from beneath a transparent veil, in objects the 
most insignificant. Pale fear, appalled at his own 
shadow, flies over the confines of creation, and 
leaves all hearts alone with love and joy. We 
know that we cannot be lost out of the bosom of 
God, for the root of the soul is in God, and there- 
fore cannot die. The iron chain of necessity re- 
leases its coil around the world, and its clanking 
links of dark, uncertain circumstance melt away 
as receding mists in the presence of a sun shiv- 
ered into spangles of glory. The tears of sorrow 
on the faded cheek of the mourner turn into price- 
less pearls, and prayer and praise breathe out 
among blooming roses on white lips quivering 
with agony. The old, familiar faces of the long, 



402 Scholastic Literature. 

long ago — the loved, the lost — ah ! the long lost, 
but never forgotten, are around us once more. 

" Their smile in the starlight doth wander by ; 
Their breath is near in the wind's low sigh." 

The endless ages are crowded into a luminous 
point. There is no past or future. The faith 
that asserts God proclaims all things to the soul. 
When we take into consideration the history of 
mankind, this cannot be answered negatively. 
Always, and everywhere, man has felt himself 
drawn toward Deity. It is with the veneration 
of God as with all the inborn intellectual powers 
of man. No one invented the instinct of love for 
children, of friendship, of conflict; no one in- 
vented the faculties for music, painting, and 
poetry. Before Numa, the Romans had a re- 
ligion; before Moses, the Israelites worshiped 
God. The existence of such a God, however, is 
proved through the phrenological fact that man 
possesses an innate faculty of divine veneration ; 
for there must be a subject corresponding, or com- 
plemental, to this faculty — a God, because it is 
simply impossible that Nature should contradict 
herself, at the same time affirming and denying a 
subject. There is not, and cannot be, among all 
the infinitely numerous natural phenomena, a soli- 
tary example which would compel man to accuse 
Nature of falsehood. We repose on the bosom 



God and Nature. 403 

of our Father with a confidence that nothing can 
shake. The impenetrable storms may hide every 
shining star in heaven; the angry spirit of the 
waters may shrink ; still the whole world is deaf. 
What care I? Let the storm howl on — God 
guides it; and on whatsoever shore the wreck is 
thrown, he is sure to be there, with all my loves 
and hopes around him; and wherever he is, there 
is the open gate of heaven, for there is that ever- 
lasting love which is heaven. 



404 Scholastic Literature. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FLIRT. 

BY SALLIE HILL. 

I was the only daughter of a distinguished mer- 
chant, who was very wealthy. My mirror told 
me that I was beautiful. When I was very small, 
I often heard my parents and others say of me: 
"What a beauty!" Of course this made me vain. 
I was always putting on haughty airs, and con- 
sulting my mirror to see how I could set off my 
beauty to greater advantage. My parents neg- 
lected nothing in my education that would render 
me accomplished. They sent me to the best 
schools the country could afford. I graduated 
with the highest honors, and on my return home 
was the belle of the season. I had many suitors, 
many of whom were estimable men. I did noth- 
ing but go to balls, parties, and other places of 
amusement. I was a sad flirt! 

Listen now to a recital of my folly, which I 
afterward regretted to my great sorrow. There 
was to be a large ball given in the city, and great 
preparations were made for it. Invitations were 



Autobiography of a Flirt. 405 

sent out to all parts of the country. The time at 
length arrived, and my betrothed came to accom- 
pany me. "0!" said I, "I'm engaged to go with 
some one else to-night." I saw the grieved look 
that he cast upon me, and almost repented of hav- 
ing such a desperate game to play; but I was not 
to be persuaded from my purpose, let the conse- 
quences be what they might. I went, danced, 
and flirted with every other gentleman there. He 
was there also, but I saw there was a sadness 
mingled with all his gayety. He once asked me 
to dance the next set with him. I told him I 
was engaged for every set. My heart told me 
that I had sent a throb to the heart of one on 
whom I might have willingly depended for all 
future happiness; but this was not my aim. I 
did not regard the love of any one, but only de- 
sired to be loved and admired by all those whom 
the world calls honored "big bugs," "high-flyers," 
stylish young fops. Yes, this was my highest 
ambition; but I was wretched. He left, and I 
saw him no more that night. He well knew my 
intentions, and grieved to know I was so false. 

But alas ! just so with those whose aims and 
desires are so unchristianlike. I never went into 
society, declined seeing any company, gave up 
going to balls and parties, and resigned myself 
to melancholy and sad thoughts of the past — that 
happy past! My friends tried to arouse me from 



406 Scholastic Literature. 

my lethargy, but all their efforts were in vain. 
My interrogations were such as these: "Why 
should one be so desirous of gaining any one's 
love, without love in return? Why did I so 
treacherously decline those whose words and ac- 
tions told me I was lovely and beautiful? Ah 
yes! I might have acted more wisely; then I 
might have been happier ! " But now I was in a 
sad plight, similar to a young girl of w T hom I once 
heard. She, too, was lovely and beautiful, and at 
last became unhappy. Her father being interested 
in the welfare of his daughter, asked her why it 
was that she had so many honorable suitors, and 
accepted none. She, with unusual calmness, told 
him if he would go in the forest or grove and 
bring her the straightest and most beautifully- 
shaped twig that he could find, she would then 
tell him the cause of her sorrow and condition. 
Her father, anxious to know all, did as she bid 
him. He walked the lonely grove, and at last 
became weary, and brought her a very ugly twig. 
She said to her father: "Why did you bring such 
a twig, when there were many much more beau- 
tiful?" Said he: "After I had gone through the 
grove, I could not take the round again." "Just 
so, father!" exclaimed the poor girl. "After I 
had taken the lonely round, I could not then re- 
turn." 

So, my friends, you see the sad plight a poor 



Autobiography of a Flirt. 407 

flirt can bring upon herself when having so many 
suitors, and desiring more; she refuses one, and 
awaits the proposal of another, and very often 
another never comes, and then misery and unhap- 
piness follow. 



408 Scholastic Literature. 



COMMERCE. 

BY W. P. BRENTS. 

If the sublimity of a theme depends upon its 
antiquity and universal applicability in every class 
of human society, then indeed we have for your 
consideration, on this occasion, the sublimest of 
the sublime, in the subject of this address. Back 
in the mysterious past, beyond the record, sacred 
or profane, of human events, within the family 
circle of him who stooped to touch the alluring 
fruit of sin — yea, in the first want felt by fallen 
humanity, that could not be supplied by individual 
effort, is found the origin of this theme. 

Profane history begins with the writings of 
Homer, and in his Iliads the scion Muse sings of 
commerce as a system ; and in the sacred book of 
Job, the oldest record known, the gold of Ophir 
and the Ethiopian topaz are maintained as articles 
of commerce. Yea, commerce is as old as the 
language of the human tongue, and its influence 
has been felt by every family, tribe, nation, and 
empire that has flourished, or perished, or still 



Commerce. 409 

flourishes upon this, God's habitable globe. From 
the hunters of the hills — who would loathe to ap- 
propriate all that crowned a day's chase, if they 
knew their neighbor, whose fire flickered o'er the 
way, needed their over-stock, and would give in 
return bows and arrows, or something else — to the 
wealthiest cities, whose harbors hold their thou- 
sands of merchantmen, loaded with the luxuries 
of earth, all have alike felt that influence. 

Nothing, in its practical operations, has ever 
done so much to harmonize, civilize, and Chris- 
tianize the human race as commerce. Go muse 
amid the ruins of Alexandria, that city built by 
the founder of the Macedonian Empire, midway 
between the Mediterranean and Indian Seas, and 
there ask, "Why built, how built, and why in 
ruins ? " and history will answer, " Built there to 
command the commerce of both seas ; built by the 
genius and wealth that go hand in hand with com- 
merce ; and in ruins because of the skill of a few 
Portuguese navigators, who doubled the cape of 
ctorms, and thereby opened up a better way from 
Europe to the East Indies, cutting off the city of 
Alexandria from the commerce of both empires, 
and thereby sealing its doom." Turn to Tyre, and 
ask for the secret of her ancient opulence and 
splendor, and the rapt visions of Ezekiel. You 
can find an answer. She was the merchant for 
the people of many isles. " By thy great wisdom 
18 



410 Scholastic Literature. 

and by traffic hast thou increased thy riches," 
saith Ezekiel. Turn to Carthage, once a trading 
post for the Phoenicians on the coast of Africa, 
and ask what magic influence swelled her inhabit- 
ants, until the safety of the Roman Empire ad- 
mitted of but one voice at her capitol, and that 
was "Carthago, delenda est," and for many years 
enabled her to brave the eagle, and bid defiance to 
the marshaled legions of Rome ; and a voice re- 
verberating, the years intervening, answers, "It 
was commerce, 't was the .traffic of her people." 

The world was making rapid progress in ancient 
letters, civilization, liberty, and laws, until Rome 
made war upon commerce. 'Twas there the bright 
sun of civilization went down in the night of 
ignorance and superstition, barbarity and gloom, 
and all Southern Europe was devastated by fire 
and sword, and deluged with blood; anarchy and 
misrule, discord and strife, attained their dominion 
over the world. In that dark period, in which 
centuries were lost, there was but a single ray of 
civilization, and that flickered along the coast of 
the Adriatic, among a few trafficking tribes, whose 
commercial interest made them respect each other's 
liberty and laws, and from them it was that the 
first faint beams, in gray streaks of meaning, 
broke upon darkened Europe. 

Through the wonderful influence of commerce, 
we see Pisa, Venice, and Genoa springing up like 



Commerce. 411 

magic cities, becoming to modern ages what Alex- 
andria, Tyre, and Carthage were to the years num- 
bered before the Christian era. Venice was the 
proud mistress of the now spouseless Adriatic, 
and the white sails of the commercial ships were 
to be seen upon every sea, commanding the com- 
merce of the world ; and thereby she became one 
of the most powerful of the Italian Republics, 
reaching a pitch of opulence and empire that com- 
manded the admiration of the world. Genoa, 
after making conquest of Pisa, became more 
powerful and wealthy, if possible, than Venice, 
and through her commerce she introduced Eastern 
customs and tastes into Europe, and liberty spoke 
in her walls, and law resumed its sway over the 
land; and by her enterprise she discovered this 
beautiful America of ours, and closed her magnifi- 
cent career by ushering in the present era of light, 
liberty, and truth. But the melancholy admonition 
of the poet, that " trade's proud empire" hastes 
to decay, was destined to be the fate of these 
commercial emporiums, for they, like Alexandria, 
are in ruins, because the Portuguese navigators 
made another discovery of a new passage to the 
East around the Cape of Good Hope, striking a 
blow at the commercial interests of the Italian 
Republic from which they have never recovered. 
Commerce in this age, as in all times past, is 
the handmaid of science and art, civilization and 



412 Scholastic Literature. 

wealth. Turn to Great Britain, and tell me the 
cause of her power, wealth, and learning. It can- 
not be her soil, for that is as poor and bleak as the 
sandy wastes of Arabia. It cannot be the manu- 
factures alone, for without commerce she would 
have no consumers of the products of her wonder- 
ful genius. She is situated upon an island, and 
her border is washed by the sea of her progress 
in national glory and splendor. Withdraw the 
influence of commerce, and London, Liverpool, 
and Glasgow, like Alexandria, Carthage, and 
Palmyra, would sink into ruins, and remain famous 
in history alone. 

But the most striking influence of the empire 
of commerce is found in America, which we now 
come to consider. It was not only the motive- 
power of the daring genius which braved the seas 
in the discovery, but it was the ostensible cause 
that led to her rebellion against Great Britain, 
which culminated in a glorious freedom, that has 
ever blessed her people, secured by a new and 
better compact, formed by independent sovereigns 
in pursuance of the absolute requisitions of com- 
merce. Bv the influence of commerce, America 
has already built cities that rank with Alexandria, 
Carthage, and Palmyra of antiquity, and rival the 
Londons, Liverpools, and Glasgows of the present 
day. Why has New York, at one end of the 
avenue, and New Orleans at the other, taken such 



Commerce. 413 

wonderful positions of influence in the Republic, 
but for the centralization of all foreign trades in 
their midst? Situated at the extremes of latitude, 
they command the commerce of the Atlantic and 
Pacific, and are the commercial emporiums of 
America, and are destined to surpass any cities in 
the history of the old world. To-day, the white 
sails of American shipping are fanned by the winds 
of every clime, and the waters of every navigable 
stream under the canopy of heaven echo the voice 
of her mariners. Her merchants have broken 
down the walls of China, and introduced customs 
of civilization in their midst never before known ; 
and through the influence of commercial capital 
over agricultural labor, the colonization of Coolies 
from China upon the rich and fertile soil of the 
South is seriously contemplated by the wisest 
men of America. To-day, the once barbarous 
Japanese rejoice in the civilization introduced to 
them through American commerce. Yea, not a 
nation under the sun, from the coast of Africa to 
the coast of Brazil — from the antarctic circle of 
the North to the antipodes of the South, but hail 
the white wings with joy, and bask in the light 
of civilization that has been diffused by American 
commerce. And a prophetic voice tells me that 
she has but begun her career as empire of the 
seas. 

Commerce, in times of war as in times of peace, 



414 Scholastic Literature. 

is a ruling power in a government, and without it 
no government can long sustain its nationality. 
How sadly the South realized this fact during the 
late civil war, let the worn and tattered blankets, 
that served as winding-sheets for the dead bodies 
of her fallen heroes, tell ! Through that deluge 
of blood, commerce was the controlling power, 
wielded against the fortunes of the South. If she 
could have had free access to the trade and com- 
merce of the world, to-day that beloved banner, 
the stars and bars, for which so many of her 
gallant sons laid down their lives, and for which 
the best blood that ever flowed through human 
veins was poured out in torrents, instead of trail- 
ing in the dust at the conqueror's feet, would have 
been waving in triumph over the lovely plains and 
fertile fields of the South. The immensity of the 
naval armament of the North enabled her to cut 
off the commerce of the South, and thereby starve 
her into subjection. The merchants and brokers 
of the North were the bankers of the government, 
and they with their liberal coffers and bales of 
merchandize, and not the soldiers with muskets in 
their hands, decimated the ranks of the Southern 
army, and wore out the energy of her people. 

But desolating and devastating as the war was, 
under the guardianship of commerce some of the 
highest results in the arts and sciences were at- 
tained during its existence. Yea, there is no pro- 



Commerce. 415 

found scientific result attained without commerce. 
She brings her trophies from every clime, and lays 
them at the feet of science, and enables the student 
to study its principles and to know in America its 
applicability in other climes. Commerce is the 
parent of civilization, and with her cotton, silks, 
and wines, has done more to make individuals and 
nations respect each other than any other agency 
known in the history of the human family. It is 
the golden girdle of the globe, by which Provi- 
dence has bound together his fractious and erring 
children. She is the pioneer of Christianity, and 
is found on the stormiest seas, seeking out the 
wildest savages and trafficking with them, ere they 
learn of their God or their souls ; and by her in- 
fluence is daily adding more trophies to the Chris- 
tian nations of the earth, and through the pecuni- 
ary interests of men is working out the great 
problem of man's ontology and deontology. 



416 Scholastic Literature. 



SKEPTICISM. 

BY WM. M. NIX. 

Although man was created pure and holy, bear- 
ing the impress of Divinity himself, endowed with 
mental and moral faculties well calculated both 
to promote his own happiness and to secure the 
glory of divine law, he not only forfeited his 
claim to that high estate which even angels might 
envy, but entailed upon himself and his posterity 
the curse of offended Deity. His transcendent 
mind, which before on the wings of imagination 
delighted to soar through fields of celestial light, 
and to contemplate with admiring gaze the count- 
less perfections and infinite wisdom of the mighty 
Jehovah, now, curtained with darkness and veiled 
with pollution, shrinks from the dazzling splendor 
and spotless purity of that Being by whom suns 
are balanced and numberless worlds sustained, as 
the captive who has pined through lingering years 
in midnight darkness shuns the blazing light of 
noon. He no longer sees the beauty of holiness, 



Skepticism. 417 

the attractions of virtue, or the loveliness of 
truth; but cloaking his depravity under the veil 
of ignorance, he endeavors to conceal his own im- 
perfections, rejecting the pure light of inspiration, 
which alone is sufficient to dispel the moral dark- 
ness which envelops his benighted soul. 

While searching after the cause of such strange 
inconsistency in a being claiming reason as his 
guide, we find that his preference for darkness to 
light, for vice to virtue, prevents him from inves- 
tigating those sublime truths embraced in the 
sacred Scriptures; while the evil voice of the 
tempter, calming his troubled conscience by prom- 
ises of happiness the most delusive, presents to 
his fevered imagination sin in its most deceptive, 
yet in its most seductive form. Although it may 
appear strange, w T hile the truth of revelation is so 
plain, that the infatuated mind can be so easily 
borne along upon the tide of error, yet when we 
take into consideration the little regard which is 
paid in our public schools to the study of the 
sacred volume, the mystery is solved. We see, 
even in our beloved land of civil and religious 
liberty, whose churches are so many monuments 
of the goodness and infinite mercy of the all-wise 
Creator, the veil of ignorance intercepting the 
moral vision of thousands. Even those who are 
deemed learned, and who would consider it a re- 
flection on their literary character to be unac- 
18* 



418 Scholastic Literature. 

quainted with the most visionary philosophy, 
blush not at an ignorance of the sublime truths 
of revelation. They have acquired all knowledge 
except that which is worth obtaining, drank every 
cup of joy except that which is unadulterated 
with the bitter dregs of disappointment, and fos- 
tered every hope except that of unending felicity. 
Judging man by his conduct, and knowing him to 
be a being of high hopes and lofty aspirations, in 
whom are self-love and self-interest, we would 
reasonably conclude that his happiness here was 
unalloyed, that his joys were complete, and that 
not a cloud arose to darken his pathway. 

As the proud bark, now riding triumphantly 
over the restless billows, yet destined to find a 
resting-place in the bosom of the unfathomed 
ocean, disdains the port, so he, whose life a mo- 
ment may destroy, reveling in his strength and 
exulting in his pride, rejects the bright rays of 
hope divinely shed, turning to the treacherous 
beam of earth-born light, which shines but to de- 
lude, and dazzles to expire. The light of Nature, 
which became insufficient to direct his erring foot- 
steps, while it taught him that there was a su- 
preme Being, gave him no distinct views as to his 
character and attributes. Thus we see men in 
those ages of moral darkness deifying sometimes 
a virtue, but oftentimes a vice — sometimes a ben- 
efactor, but more frequently a scourge of his race; 



Skepticism. 419 

and even bowing in adoration before the brute, 
and before idols of wood and stone; and who, 
although thus morally depraved, have reached 
heights which the human mind has never since 
been able to attain, while numerous specimens of 
their towering intellect have escaped the effacing 
hand of time, and are still destined to descend to 
future generations, as monuments of their high 
mental attainments, not only exhibiting the won- 
derful development of which the intellectual pow- 
ers are susceptible, but also showing the inade- 
quateness of the light of Nature, unaided, to teach 
man his duty toward his Creator. 

Thus, we see, the reason — the celestial lamp of 
the skeptic — instead of illuminating the mind, 
lures it farther from the star of faith, leaving it 
subject to the most erroneous views and wildest 
speculations. Although the idle theories of those 
heathen philosophers may have led astray the ig- 
norant, nevertheless they have been productive 
of a salutary influence, by leading the mind to an 
investigation of those arguments which have been 
advanced in order to refute the principles and doc- 
trines of the Bible. Thus, while their fallacy has 
been detected, not only has the authenticity of 
the Scriptures been made manifest, but new 
truths have been unfolded, and new beauties dis- 
closed on every page, still leaving ten thousand 
excellences concealed, which are too lofty to be 



420 Scholastic Literature. 

discerned by the earth-gazing eye of drowsy mor- 
tals. Is it not the most conclusive argument that 
could be adduced in favor of the Bible, that its 
greatest opposers, who were men highly renowned 
for their literature and distinguished for their tal- 
ents, have never been able to present a single 
statement which is the least plausible, a single 
truth which is untinged with falsehood, or a single 
objection which is unanswerable? Yet these men, 
who have been unable to disguise falsehood so as 
to bear the least semblance to truth, have, not- 
withstanding, revolutionized the religious creeds 
of whole empires, who, without searching after 
the authenticity of their statements and the cor- 
rectness of their principles, have adopted them 
merely because they accorded with their own de- 
praved views; thus exhibiting in a forcible man- 
ner that principle, so inherent in man's nature, 
which prompts him to receive truth with reluc- 
tance, but to embrace falsehood with avidity. 
When we reflect, too, how often even God's 
chosen people, to whom he so miraculously mani- 
fested himself, strayed from the paths of recti- 
tude, are we not at once impressed with convic- 
tions that natural religion alone is an insufficient 
means of human reformation? Even now that 
additional light has been afforded, through the 
boundless mercy of a kind Providence, many, 
shrouded in the darkness of their own souls, con- 



Skepticism. 421 

tinue still in ignorance, doubting even the very 
existence of a future state. 

As there is but one step from the sublime to 
the ridiculous, so there is but one step from in- 
credulity to a belief of the greatest absurdities. 
Thus men, in support of their false systems of 
philosophy, receive that which is infinitely harder 
to believe than the truth itself. Then are the 
pleasures of earth so entirely captivating, are its 
scenes so fair, or its skies so cloudless, that man 
desires not in a fairer realm to dwell? or is it not 
rather his own impurity that rivets to earth those 
eyes which should have been directed, with fond, 
confiding gaze, to that heaven which is unending 
bliss, and to that God whose bright pavilion is 
eternal glory? 

Yet 'tis man's nature, when the bloom of youth 
mantles his cheek, and hope beats high in his 
bosom, exulting in his prime, to rush madly down 
the river of life, neglectful of the past, and regard- 
less of the future. But time, with effacing fingers, 
fails not to stamp the traces of decay upon his 
manly brow, to bend with age his proud form, and 
to moderate his youthful passions. No longer, 
then, does memory, removing the curtain of the 
past, feast the imagination of the skeptic with the 
bright images of pleasure, but by recalling them 
only awakens the sad thought that they are gone 
forever. Bright - eyed hope, which might have 



422 Scholastic Literature. 

transported him far beyond the tomb, no longer 
breathes upon him her genial and life -inspiring 
breath; but soaring far above the pleasures of 
earth with pinions free, disdains to cast a glance 
of her heaven-directed eyes upon him who mocks 
that faith which, penetrating the undefined future, 
points to worlds of light where happiness reigns 
supreme. Thus despair overwhelms him, when 
hope could not save; darkness shrouds his mind, 
which light could not illuminate ; and his troubled 
spirit launches blindly forth upon the dreary ocean 
of eternity. 



The Ideal and the Real. 423 



THE IDEAL AND THE REAL. 

BY CORNELIA McCRORY. 

The ideal! What a glow of poetic feeling rises 
within the heart — what forms of beauty glide be- 
fore the imagination — what sounds of harmony 
sweep over the soul, even while dwelling on the 
word! All that is lovely. in nature, glorious in 
art, holy and heavenly in action, seem to meet 
here ; and the contemplation fills us with joy, be- 
cause of the wondrous gift by which earth-born 
man can break the bands that fetter him to sense, 
and soar into the higher regions of perennial beau- 
ty. Happy are they whom no rude hand with- 
draws from these lovely heights — who can dream 
out their dream without being awakened by the 
grasp of stern reality! But where are those 
happy ones? Echo answers, "Where?" The 
conflict with the real is allotted to us all — truly 
a sorrowful beginning; but we must picture it as 
it is, not as we would like it to be. The bright 
side cannot always positively illumine the pros- 
pect, for dark clouds will occasionally flit across 



424 Scholastic Literature. 

the azure vault of heaven, obscuring the meridian 
brightness of the noonday sun. A life painted 
all sunshine, from beginning to end, would be a 
picture overdrawn. Who ever saw — -who ever 
experienced such a life? Not you; not I; not 
any one. But for some the sun shines more 
brightly than for others; over some these dark 
clouds of adversity forever seem hovering. 

Yet even amid the darkest gloom of life an oc- 
casional ray of light will gleam, to cheer and en- 
liven the weary wanderer, provided he lose not 
the anchor of hope, and drop into the deep, dark 
gulf of despair. Some of you have, in your ear- 
lier years, struggled along, as orphans do, living 
from hand to mouth — sometimes finding a friend, 
but oftener meeting with those in whom selfish- 
ness has soured the milk of human kindness. 
Had you not naturally possessed a warm and gen- 
erous nature and a noble heart, you too might 
have been soured by your contact with those 
whom the world would have been better off with- 
out — though, alas! I fear the world would be 
sparsely inhabited, if all the selfish and dishonest 
ones were taken from it. You, the hearer, and I, 
the reader, might not be left among the worthy 
ones ; but some would still undoubtedly be here, 
and, if enough for companionship, might possibly 
bring the world back to the primitive days of the 
garden of Eden, before sin entered the world. 



The Ideal and {he Real. 425 

"Who knows? But these chimerical reflections 
amount to nothing; for, alas! as long as the world 
exists, we must expect sin and misery to exist; 
yet there are many woes incident to the human 
race that are produced by causes which, to a great 
extent, might be prevented or eradicated. 

But it is not our intention to enter upon a dis- 
sertation upon these causes and their prevention, 
and so I hope you have not become soured by 
your contact with the world. Plant a peach-ker- 
nel in the rich soil of an Illinois prairie, and plant 
one of the same kind on a bare ridge in the bleak 
wilds of Western Virginia, and when they both 
spring np and grow to maturity, the fruit of the 
trees will be the same, though they do not bear 
in equal abundance, or grow to the same size; 
neither will the soil nor the climate change the 
nature of that inherent peculiarity belonging to 
the germ that finally produces a certain kind of 
fruit. So it is with the human heart. Associa- 
tions may more quickly develop and bring to view 
good or bad qualities, but they will not alter the 
natural disposition; for what is implanted there 
by an all-wise Providence will remain unchanged, 
though sometimes either good or bad qualities 
may become latent or dormant, because the asso- 
ciations are such that there is nothing to arouse 
them into activity. 

Pardon the digression. I will once more return 



426 Scholastic Literature. 

to my subject, from which my hearers doubtless 
think I have a natural inclination to wander. To 
err is human : none of us are perfection, which, 
no doubt, my hearers have already discovered. 
Story-writers sometimes make their characters so, 
but such characters are never found in real life. 
Then let us remember that the ideal is like the 
flitting cloud that appears brilliant for a moment, 
but soon the stirring breezes dissipate it. The 
real only is so unchangeable that nothing except 
a miracle will alter its nature. Life is filled up 
with both the ideal and the real, and the wise and 
prudent alone can become proper judges between 
them. Let us all, then, my school-mates, try to 
place proper estimates upon objects, whether ideal 
or real, as they pass before us. Let us strive to 
escape the ideal, and let us become, both in our 
words and deeds, persons of reality. We should 
keep in remembrance the idea, that we can only 
become respectable, great, and good, by exhibit- 
ing in our lives matter-of-fact reality. This life is 
both ideal and real : one is fleeting, the other per- 
manent ; the one leads to vanity and bigotry, the 
other to virtue and true respectability. So the 
world goes, and so fade away all things created. 
Time, with his sharp sickle of death, cuts down 
and withers all that is ideal, and the real becomes 
still more real, more permanent and lasting. 



Human Development. 427 



HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. 

BY WILLIAM TAYLOR. 

Change, change, eternal change, is the order of 
nature, and no man is ever twice alike. Every 
thought, impulse, or emotion which passes through 
his mind, be he asleep or awake, changes his ex- 
pression, like the ever-recurring seasons of spring, 
summer, autumn, and winter. This is experience, 
without exception to any. It is only the mind or 
spirit which changes not — which lives always, and 
retains its own individual identity. If one con- 
tinues to lie, steal, rob, or murder, he will soon 
show it in his countenance ; and in time it will 
enter deep into his very being, and engrave the 
fact on his face and heart. So, if one lives a vir- 
tuous, righteous, and godly life, performing acts of 
love and Christian charity, acts approved by an 
enlightened judgment, the same will be recorded 
to his credit both on the human countenance and 
in heaven. Progress and improvement should be 
the motto of all human beings. It is one's privi- 
lege and duty to grow better as he grows older, 



428 Scholastic Literature. 

ripening into God's richest blessings, having ful- 
filled all his requirements. 

According to the natural processes of develop- 
ment, the physical or material part is first to be 
considered. Personal accountability comes later 
to the individual — comes with years and knowl- 
edge. Parents train the bodies, and instruct the 
minds of their children. These grow up accord- 
ingly, well-formed or ill-formed, and their course 
through life is, in a great measure, thus predeter- 
mined. If started right, if properly put on a good 
footing, well equipped with chart, compass, and a 
knowledge of our own capacity, what can we hope 
to do, and what we cannot hope in regard to our 
success, is well-nigh assured. In this case we 
grow up into symmetrical and manly proportions. 
If, however, the start be in the wrong direction, 
and the preparation be altogether insufficient, a 
person may be dwarfed in both body and mind. 
A youth while growing in body should be educated 
in the right use of all his faculties — the mechani- 
cal, artistic, literary, social, intellectual, and re- 
ligious. This is due him from his parents. If 
educated on a phrenological basis, each and every 
faculty would be properly called out, and the per- 
son's power vastly increased. 

To reform, improve, and elevate the race, is the 
highest mission of man on earth. This is the sub- 
ject of the Christian religion and of all philan- 



Human Development. 429 

thropic endeavors; and a knowledge of man, 
physical, mental, and spiritual, is among the means 
by which it may be accomplished. A new gener- 
ation, with better opportunities, increased faculties, 
and a more intelligent class of minds to work on, 
will rise up and succeed us. Every discovered 
fact in science, every known principle in philoso- 
phy, and every truth in revelation, will be cher- 
ished and used for the good of mankind, and for 
the glory of God. We may study the stars, rocks, 
or flowers, elephants, monkeys, or men, and from 
all learn something useful ; or we may close our 
eyes, and sit in idleness, killing the valuable time 
allotted to our use and intended for our growth. 
He who loses valuable time, or who fails to grow 
into the fullest manhood, may be likened to a plant 
or a tree set in poor soil, which withers or becomes 
stunted, and fails to attain the object and end of 
its existence. 

Students, it is yours to become something or 
nothing — something more than an animal or less 
than a man in the world. Are you in the way of 
development and improvement ? Why not ? Are 
you a cripple, or disabled? Are you poor, and 
obliged to work most of the time ? God will bless 
all your earnings to your use. Are you rich? 
Go seek the needy, and put them in the way of 
education, improvement, and development, and 
get that rich reward promised to the charitable — 



430 Scholastic- Literature. 

"It is more blessed to give than to receive." Are 
you dissipating, or spending time and money in an 
unsatisfying appetite? What are your habits? 
Are they regular, and such as you can ask a bless- 
ing on ? Or are you indulging in games of chance, 
or perverted propensities ? Remember, it is the 
right use of body and mind which is required for 
man's best development and highest happiness. 
These two paths of life are opened alike to all ; 
one leads as surely to destruction and premature 
death, as the other to health, intelligence, honor, 
and heaven. 



All that's Bright Must Fade. 431 



ALL THAT'S BRIGHT MUST FADE. 

BY MARY HAWKINS. 

With bright anticipations of the future, we joy- 
ously launch our little bark upon the broad bosom 
of the swift stream of Time. We merely begin 
the journey of life, with no thought or anxious 
care with any thing beyond the present. All is 
bright now, but we know not how soon the fell 
destroyer may throw a chilly blight over all our 
budding hopes and cheering prospects, or crush all 
our bright anticipations, and hasten us on to the 
shades of oblivion, there to slumber alone and for- 
gotten ; for all must alike share the quiet of the 
tomb. Neither youth nor beauty can stay the 
hand of death, but are often, like the sweet flower 
of spring, blighted by the destroying blast, and 
compelled to fade. But we still watch the ripples 
of the waves, or listen to the murmurs of the 
waters, as they go hurling by. We gather the 
flowers as we pass to worship — yes, to adore their 
brightness. Flowers are truly our emblems; they 
speak to us in plaintive tones of fading brightness. 



432 Scholastic Literature. 

Amid all this brightness, and all these beauties, 
we think not of their decline. No other thought 
than that of our little bark's welfare presents it- 
self to our eyes. 

But alas ! life is not all a gay and sunny dream, 
a bow of promise on a golden beam. The placid 
waters become troubled, and our pleasure is ruffled 
by the storm of angry passion. Dark clouds of 
disappointment gather around us. Our brightness 
has fled. Even the rose-bud, in all its simplicity, 
beauty, and loveliness, bursts forth in exquisite 
splendor. The queen of flowers has forbid us the 
pleasure of its brightness, but its fragrance still is 
delightful. Alas! all that's bright must fade. 
Who of us cannot, after an absence of a few 
months or weeks from our homes, mark some fad- 
ing beauty on our return ? The little brook, which 
we loved so well, has dried up ; the flowers are 
withered and fallen to the ground ; there repose 
the remains of a babe on whom a parent's eyes 
have gazed in fondness, over whose gentle form a 
mother has bent and bathed with her sorrowing 
tears, now dreaming of her maternal love, and 
many scenes of happiness. But alas ! all that's 
bright must fade, like the rose-bud in which the 
canker-worm has fed, beneath the blighting hand 
of death. The object of a mother's hope will 
exchange the warm resting-place of affection for 
the dark, cold chamber of the grave ! 



All that's Bright Must Fade. 433 

So, from the beginning of life to the close, our 
joys are all transitory. While in childhood, with 
laughing eyes and a bright heart, we pursued the 
gaudy-colored butterfly, and grasped it to examine 
the beautiful colors, the velvet is brushed from its 
wings; and here we are first made to mourn be- 
cause such a thing as this must fade. But after 
we grow older, and forget such trivial things as 
these, we look forward with eager hopes, and place 
our affections on things which we think will not 
fade so soon. It is usual for us to cling to some- 
thing, and of the many objects that surround us 
upon which we place our affections, and on whom 
we call as friends, and whose virtuous influences 
make the attachments stronger, we think certainly 
these are lasting. But friendship, like all other 
objects, will soon fade. Then it is vain to place 
our affections upon things of earth, for they are 
all transitory, and we cannot be happy if we love 
such things of so short duration. Solomon, in all 
his wisdom and glory, was not happy, for he knew 
that all his worldly power would soon fade. 
19 



434 Scholastic Literature. 



"REMEMBER ME." 

BY OLLIE BILLS. 

Of all the subjects that I can select, this one I 
consider has a more lasting sentiment. Wherever 
we go, or wherever we are, we see this little sen- 
tence, " Remember me." Go to a grave-yard, and 
there you will find it; go to some well-known 
loved spot, and you will find this sweet and lasting 
sentence written there, "Remember me." How 
often do we hear its sweet and plaintive sound! 
We hear it spoken by the lips of the dying mother; 
after she has done her duty here on earth, tutor- 
ing her little ones in the right, her last and sweetly 
spoken words are, "Remember me." The dying 
child pleads remembrance from the little band 
which he has so often enjoyed. Where do we see 
those words more often than on old school-books 
of dear school-mates ? We turn the pages with 
pleasure, and read and reread the small but sweet 
sentences written here and there. What a soul- 
stirring pleasure fills our hearts ! We sigh to 
know that earthly things are frail. Yes, we, too, 



"Remember Me." 435 

certainly think at times as though earth is our 
everlasting home. 

"Remember me !" What two words represent 
more ? How much is felt when these sweet words 
are spoken! They carry with them the thoughts 
of other days, and give us a true recital of friends 
forever gone. After death has snatched away 
from us some dear one of earth, how sweet — how 
melancholy sweet — to have these lastly spoken 
words reverberating in our ears, " Remember me ! " 
Often, after our daily round is completed, we sit 
to meditate upon the thoughts of other days. We 
call back scenes in which we were once actresses ; 
but alas ! the band has been rent ; the loved ones 
of earth have passed with their dying words en- 
graven upon our hearts, "Remember me!" Who 
could not, after such meditations, willingly consent 
to abandon this old earth, and visit a land of 
pleasure and bliss ? 

We have often heard of the words issuing from 
the lips of the departing soldier. He bids adieu 
to the home of youth, where he has spent so 
many hours of happiness. He turns and weeps 
his departure. He feels as though his career on 
earth had almost closed. He gives his parting 
advice to the band that is now being broken ; he 
leaves them with his kisses and tears imprinted 
upon the cheeks, and the words "Remember me" 
engraven on the tablets of their hearts. Alas ! 



436 Scholastic Literature. 

he sighs to know that he is forced by duty to leave 
his friends and companions. 

The sailor, too, while plowing the deep, and 
whirled to and fro by the fierce winds and howl- 
ing storms around him, often prays aloud for 
friends at home ; but in his last moments he casts 
his eyes upward, and imploringly cries out, in 
plaintive tones, in his distresses, " Lord, remem- 
ber me!" Ah! he is swept away from us, remem- 
bered only by friends and loved ones at home ; 
but angels alone can tell of him in the far-off 
land. 

The Christian, while journeying through life, is 
often thrown amid temptations and trials. His 
strength is exhausted ; he resorts to all means by 
which he may overcome his sorrow; but in his 
agony he turns to Him in whom his trust is 
placed, and cries out, believingly, " Lord, re- 
member me!" 

And lastly, my companions and school-mates, 
as we separate to-day, let us remember that we 
may never again be associates in this classic 
circle; but if not, may we not indulge in the 
thought that we will be remembered, and every 
sounding tone of the old Institute bell may call 
back to fresh recollection the many ties of friend- 
ship that bound us together ? Every time we 
think of the moral lessons given by our guardian 
teachers, may we also remember our dependence 



"Remember Me." 437 

upon Him whence all our blessings come, and may 
we ever be mindful of the greatest of truths, that 
God remembers those children who remember their 
Creator in the days of their youth ! 



438 Scholastic Literature. 



CARD-PLAYING. 

BY J. Q. COCHRAN. 

Among the many pastimes to which the young 
resort for amusement, card-playing often fills a 
prominent place. This is a general, and, in some 
circles, a fashionable practice ; but it is objection- 
able and injurious in all its influences, and in every 
possible point of view. Nothing good or instruc- 
tive, nothing elevating or commendable, in any 
sense, can come from it. All its fruits must 
necessarily be evil. It is a senseless occupation. 
Nothing can be more unmeaning and fruitless, 
among all the employments to which a rational 
mind can devote its attention. It affords no use- 
ful exercise of the intellect, no food for profitable 
thoughts, no power to call into activity the higher 
and better capacities. It is true, I suppose, there 
is some degree of cunning and skill to be displayed 
in managing the cards. But what high intellectual 
or moral capacity is brought into exercise by a 
game so trivial ? It excludes interesting and in- 
structive interchanges of social sentiments on 
topics of any degree of importance, and snbsti- 



Card-playing. 439 

tutes talk of a frivolous and meaningless charac- 
ter. To a spectator, the conversation at the card- 
table is of the most uninteresting and childish 
description. 

There are, however, more serious objections 
than these. Card-playing has a tendency of the 
most dangerous description, especially to the 
youthful. Let a young man become expert in 
this game, and fond of engaging in it, and who 
does not see he is liable to become the most mean 
and despicable of all living creatures — a gambler? 
Confident of his own skill as a card-player, how 
long would he hesitate to engage in a game for a 
small sum ? He has seen older ones playing, per- 
haps his own parents, and he can discover no great 
harm in doing the same thing, even if it is for a 
stake of a few shillings. From playing for small 
sums, the steps are very easy which lead to large 
amounts,. and in due time the young man becomes 
a gambler, from no other cause than that he ac- 
quired a love for card-playing when he engaged in 
it only as an amusement. Parents have a respon- 
sibility resting on them, in this respect, of which 
they should not lose sight. They cannot be sur- 
prised that their children imitate their example. 
With all the dangerous associations and tendencies 
of card-playing, would they have their children 
acquire a passion for it ? What wise parent can 
make such a choice for his son ? Ah ! how many 



440 Scholastic Literature. 

a young man has become a gamester, a black-leg, 
an inmate of the prison-cell, because in the home 
of his childhood he acquired a love for the card- 
table ! He but imitated the example of parents 
or friends, whose duty it was to set him a better 
example, and was led to the path of ruin. If 
from its influence, card-playing, even for amuse- 
ment, is improper for gentlemen, I conceive it is 
much more so for ladies. A young woman seems 
entirely out of place at a card-table. The associ- 
ations are so masculine ; they bring to mind so 
much of the cut-and-shuffle trickery, vulgarity, 
and profanity; so many of the words and phrases 
of that purgatory-bound thing, hell — the gambling- 
table — that for a lady to indulge in them, appears 
entirely opposed to that modesty and refinement 
which are so becoming the female character. I 
trust all young ladies of discretion will shun the 
card-table. I am confident every woman who 
possesses a proper sense of the dignity and deli- 
cacy which form the highest attractions of the 
female character, will avoid a practice which is 
made an instrument of the most despicable uses, 
and to which the most vile and abandoned con- 
stantly resort. 

" Daughters of those who long ago 

Dared the dark storm and angry sea, 
And walked the desert way of woe, 
And pain, and trouble, to be free — 



Card-playing. 441 

" O be like them ! Like them endure, 
And bow beneath affliction's rod ; 
Like them be watchful, high, and pure; 
In all things seek the smile of God." 

19* 



442 Scholastic Literature. 



OLD MISS FASHION. 

BY MATTIE FOX. 

Having had many curious thoughts about this 
famous personage, "whom I deem to be the great- 
est wonder of the age," I have chosen to make 
her the theme of my composition. I almost im- 
agine her fame extends from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, and from the cold, frozen regions of the 
North to the burning sands of the South. She is 
all the talk in the church, Sabbath-school, sitting- 
room, and parlor. She no doubt received a fin- 
ished education in some of the fanatic schools of 
the North. Just go to church, and everybody 
has got one of Miss Fashion's hats. My stars! 
what! almost indescribable! Some white, black, 
green, yellow, and all the colors of a rainbow, 
and a hundred others; some round, triangular, 
pentagons, hexagons, nonagons, high crowns and 
low crowns, wide brims, narrow brims, and no 
brims at all, crooked and turned in every conceiv- 
able shape and form that old Miss Fashion could 
imagine. Fashionable dresses! What curiously- 



Old Miss Fashion. 443 

wrought and cut things they are! I should cer- 
tainly conclude that she is one of the strangest 
old creatures in the world, if she thinks that all 
those ruffled and buffled, peaked and cornered 
dress-patterns of hers are pretty; but I should 
guess, from the signs of the times, that the old 
lady is getting somewhat old and decrepit, and 
bent under the frosts of many winters; and all 
the young ladies are taking patterns after her, 
for they have gradually grown into a kind of a 
stooped-over walk, which they technically call the 
"Grecian bend." As to what it took its name 
from, I am unable to tell. I do not know whether 
Grecian women walked that way or not; but there 
is one thing I do know : I have often seen men 
walk and ride rather in that manner when they 
would get on what they would call "a bender." 

Old Miss Fashion, I am persuaded to believe, 
is one of those extrinsic old maids ; she has so 
many particular fancies, and, indeed, she must 
change her notions almost fifty times a day, or 
else all the young ladies would not have a new 
hat or a new dress every time they went to 
preaching. Taste and style ! What a great quan- 
tity of those articles she must always keep on 
hand, for every thing she does is covered all over 
with taste, and trimmed off nicely with style! 
I earnestly believe that every thing she touches 
is like the touch of Midas — it is immediately 



444 Scholastic Literature. 

trimmed into taste and style; for here is rye- 
straw, wheat-heads, shucks, chicken-feathers, all 
come in and stuck in Miss Fashion's hats and 
bonnets; and everybody is ready to say : "0 isn't 
that taste?" and "0 isn't that style?" I am sure 
the old lady is pretty rich by this time, for she 
sells her taste and style at a monstrous big price. 
I imagine she is one of the most amiable ladies in 
the world ; everybody seems to think so much of 
her, and especially the young ladies, for they talk 
more about Lady Fashion than they do about 
their beaux and sweethearts. 

Now, there is one thing about the old lady that 
I cannot understand, and that is, how she can 
spare so much of her hair ! Certainly she must 
have a wonderful big head, and one, too, that 
grows all colors of hair; because they bring it on 
here in great boxes, all plaited, crimped, curled, 
and twisted into a thousand different shapes, and 
every lady in the country has got a bunch of Miss 
Fashion's hair! Dear me! what if the old lady 
should happen to die? What would become of us 
young school-girls? We would have no person in 
the world to furnish us with these antic notions. 
I am almost persuaded to believe that the world 
would be ruined. They would be in just the 
same condition the owl was when the eagle pro- 
posed to carry him on his back in one of his 
aerial flights, and the eagle's wing gave out, and 



Old Miss Fashion. 445 

the owl soon came smashed to the ground. So it 
would be if old Miss Fashion should happen to 
die — everything would go "smash up." So I 
heartily concur with the popular wish — a long 
life to old Miss Fashion! 



446 Scholastic Literature. 



WHAT WE HAVE NOT LEARNED. 

BY MARY P. YOWELL. 

Most of my school-mates have been showing 
what advancements we have made, and I will tell 
you of some of the things we have not learned, 
so that our friends may change teachers if they 
desire us to become wiser in the subjects men- 
tioned. ■ 

We have not learned by what principle of trans- 
mutation persons become metamorphosed into "big 
bugs," "whales," "lions," "sardines," "game chick- 
ens," "Shanghais," "fast horses," "sneaking dogs," 
or any other animals, other than that which our 
Heavenly Father made them; neither have we 
learned by what power a rich or intelligent per- 
son becomes " some pumpkins," or, if they be the 
honest "hewers of wood and drawers of water," 
how they become "small potatoes." We have not 
learned why the negroes, as a free people, become 
the "colored people." Black is no more a color 
than white, and the negroes no more the colored 
people than the Caucasian race; yet this is a 



What We Have Not Learned. 447 

senseless term, used by brainless politicians, whose 
ignorance is commensurate with their meanness. 

Some of us have made considerable advance- 
ment in the use of our tongues, but we have not 
yet learned how the same can be converted into 
instruments with which to give other persons 
"fits," or "old Jessie," nor how it is converted 
into a fire-rake, with which to rake each other 
"over the coals." "We have been taught to use it 
for the more noble purpose of telling the truth, 
and singing praises to Him who made us. We 
have not learned how young gentlemen can "take 
a smile," "take a horn," "eat square meals," or 
"get on a bender." We understand there are cer- 
tain places where they bend their elbows in tak- 
ing a "drink of whisky," which makes them smile 
at every one they meet, unless they are too hor- 
ribly ugly to smile — then they frown. Neither 
have we learned how ladies are of the "female 
persuasion." We understand how they may be 
of the Christian, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Ro- 
man Catholic persuasion, but not of "female per- 
suasion." Neither have we learned how to deter- 
mine the number that were at church, when some 
very minute person tells us there was " quite a 
number" at church to-day; for one is as "quite a 
number" as a thousand, and a thousand as one. 
Neither have we learned "how to walk into the 
fire" without getting burnt. We have not learned 



448 Scholastic Literature. 

how a gentleman can "stand around the streets/' 
as we have seen them stand on or about the 
streets ; but we cannot understand how they can 
"stand around the streets." Neither have we 
learned what part is intended to be expressed by 
the "balance of the crowd/' "balance of the 
day;" we know what is the balance of an ac- 
count. Neither have we learned by what au- 
thority — unless Bill Arp's — "cuss" is used for 
"curse," "plead" for "pleaded," "declension" for 
"refusal," "wed" for "wedded," "dry up" for 
"be silent," "pike" for "turnpike-road," "quit" 
for "quitted." Neither have we learned how, 
when one trades extensively, or does any other 
large business, he "goes the whole hog," the "en- 
tire animal," the "big figure," or "weeds a wide 
row." Neither have we learned how, when any 
person becomes ruined in any sense, he is a "gone 
coon," "a goner," "played out," "gone up," a 
"bursted machine," or a "wrecked craft." We 
have not learned how one lawyer, doctor, or 
preacher can be a "whole team," a "whole team 
and a horse to spare," or a "whole team, a horse 
extra, and a big dog under the wagon." Nei- 
ther have we learned how, when two are married, 
they are "hitched for life," unless they are con- 
sidered brutes, and are to work as such. 

These are a few of the cant phrases which have 
made inroads upon the English language, and 



What We Have Not Learned. 449 

which are daily used by those who pretend to 
have learned considerable, and who, in all proba- 
bility, smile at our imperfections; but we have 
learned that scholars who have proper respect for 
their education will not use them. 



450 Scholastic Literature. 



TRUTH. 

BY SALLIE C. COOK. 

Tbuth is one of the brightest and purest of the 
moral jewels of our nature. It is a virtue of the 
greatest worth. It preserves an entire agreement 
between our words, actions, and thoughts. It not 
only illustrates, but adorns and dignifies. It is 
valuable in every respect in which it may be con- 
sidered. 

The true man or woman, whose word may 
always be relied upon, is deservedly esteemed by 
all, and the weight of their opinion cannot but 
ever exercise a high moral influence in every in- 
telligent circle. Truth lies at the very foundation 
of the really virtuous character ; it inspires great 
confidence. An individual may be a perfect adept 
in his business, though he may not possess a bril- 
liant talent, and may be awkward in person and 
unpolished in manners ; yet let it be known that 
he is a truthful man, and he will obtain access to 
the confidence of the community. But, on the other 



Truth. 451 

hand, let an individual be handsome, attractive 
in person, and accomplished in manners, and 
very energetic and enterprising; but let it be 
known, at the same time, that he is addicted to 
falsehood, and it will create distrust and excite 
the mind, and destroy his hopes and impair his 
prospects. 

Even in jests, truth should be adhered to ; but 
alas! it is otherwise. How many persons indulge, 
day after day, in this silly practice of uttering 
falsehoods, half in jests and half in earnest, and 
thus misleading many persons wrongfully ! Even 
the wisest are sometimes liable to be deceived 
by falsehood. The young in these days do not 
attach such importance to truth and its influence 
upon character as they should, but indulge too 
much in all sorts of extravagant misrepresenta- 
tion. 

What does our Lord say of truth and its fruits? 
Pie says : " Blessed is the man that is truthful and 
upright in all his pursuits of life ; but cursed be 
the false and untruthful man.' , How much more 
reliable is the person whose purity of heart shines 
forth in every word, like white pebbles in the bot- 
torn of a crystal well! 

Truth is the greatest jewel of the soul that 
renders a person fearless of the frowns of the 
world; therefore we should at all times speak the 
truth ; for it is a treasure of value, that will con- 



452 Scholastic Literature. 

duct in the path of goodness on earth, and at 
death will be our guide to heaven. Truth forms 
on earth the strongest union in society, and we 
are certain it is acceptable in heaven. 



Words. 453 



WORDS. 

BY JOSEPH H. TALLEY. 

Man, the noblest work of God, who was created 
to perform a superior part in the great drama of 
life, is distinguished from the rest of creation by 
reason of his approaching perfection, and by 
speech, the noblest gift of Nature, and the decisive 
distinction between him and the knver order of 
creation. Whether language be wholly of a Divine 
or human origin, or the fruits of the efforts of 
both combined, is a question about which sages 
and philosophers of all ages have differed. Nor 
do I attempt to dispel or cast aside the mysterious 
veil which tends to bewilder the perceptions of 
man in the mazes of error, and to present this 
subject in a perspicuous form ; yet it must be ad- 
mitted that the power of articulation is natural. 
Thus the father of songs, in his epithets, has 
justly called man the " divider of speech," in con- 
tradistinction to animals, which utter continuous 
inarticulate cries. 

Archdeacon French, whose physiological reason- 



454 Scholastic Literature. 

ing argued a ripe and good scholar, contends that 
while language is in its infancy, it is the gift of a 
beneficent Creator; that it has been so much im- 
proved in the lapse of time, that it has lost much 
of its original character. For evidence, we have 
but to consider for a moment the various modula- 
tions and variations of simple words. This is par- 
ticularly true of all the classic languages of an- 
tiquity. To this peculiar construction they owe 
much of their beauty and flexibility, and were 
admissible to be suited to the times and occasions 
with all the music of language in its most refined 
state, or at the critical hour, when impenetrable 
gloom and despair veiled all anticipations of future 
felicity. It is obvious to every reflecting mind 
that the idea conveyed by words depends, in a 
great measure, on the context. They borrow and 
reflect the genial rays of knowledge, and assume 
a thousand shades of meaning which so admirably 
suits them to the various comforts of man. 

The origin of language is a problem, the solution 
of which bids defiance to the most learned ; yet, 
notwithstanding the many mysteries connected 
with it, it is the prerogative of man — that which 
distinguishes him from the brutes that perish. It 
is a blessing bestowed upon him of such paramount 
importance, that he can never justly appreciate 
its true character, or comprehend the innumerable 
blessings that we receive from an inexhaustible 



Words. 455 

fountain of wisdom, which not only prepares us to 
live in this mundane sphere, but to enter the 
celestial land, and to join the happy myriads of 
the redeemed. Without its ceaseless rays we 
would be doomed to perpetual darkness — nay, 
never to realize the untold bliss that we receive, 
while sipping from the cup of social communion 
with our fellow-man. Without it, all attempts at 
communication would be as abortive as that of the 
builders of Babel after the confusion of tongues. 
Without it, society could not exist ; all its joints 
would be severed, and the mighty fabric, so vast 
and complicated in its structure, would be annihi- 
lated. 

Nor would the evil stop here, but it would ex- 
tend much farther. Individuals, forming the great 
compact as one body, would be void of all means 
of communicating their thoughts and designs, 
which w r ould naturally lead to jealousy and sus- 
picions, and the result would be the most disas- 
trous state of things. Man, constituted as he is, 
would never submit to a state of felicity separated 
from the rest of mankind by some diversity of 
language. While forced by Nature to inhabit the 
same globe, and to receive the genial rays of the 
same brilliant luminary, and actuated as he is by 
the love of self-aggrandizement, he would wage 
perpetual wars, which would result in the exter- 
mination of races, together with all the detestable 



456 Scholastic Literature, 

vices which human genius could invent. Language 
is the cement of society; yet it is true that the 
social compact lies much deeper within the nature 
of man. "His inclination," says Calhoun, in a 
disquisition on government, "irresistibly compels 
him to commune with his own kind." 

Society being once separated, perpetual inter- 
course between its members is absolutely necessary 
for its prosperity and perpetuity. Man was formed 
for society. We infer this from the fact that the so- 
cial state is necessary for the proper development 
of his moral, mental, and physical power in his per- 
fect state. But this social compact could not ex- 
ist without words, which are signs or symbols of 
our thoughts and wishes. This is the language of 
Nature, as it is called, which consists in the cries 
of anguish and distress; also the language of 
signs; but in either case the vocabulary is quite 
limited. Again, there is the power of sympathy 
— one of the most mysterious laws of our nature. 
Who has not experienced its mysterious powers, 
while lending an attentive ear to the resistless 
eloquence of some orator while pleading the cause 
of his God or country — every feature expressive 
of intense interest, and his eyes beaming with the 
hidden fire of his soul, and his whole frame trem- 
bling with excitement ? His cause is often gained 
before he has time to give vent to his feelings. 
Thus Roscius beheld the tears as they flowed 



Words. 457 

down the fair maiden's cheek, which were moved 
by his silent eloquence of feature and gesture. It 
is to this that both the orator and actor must at- 
tribute their successes. 

But comparatively inferior is this or any other 
mode of communication that we can conceive of, 
when compared with the viva voce, with all its 
compass and modulation. The difference is as 
great as between a statue or painting, however ex- 
quisite in color or finish, and a living and breath- 
ing man. One of the ancient poets has said that 
God, in his wisdom, separated the nations by the 
intervening of the sea ; but the diversity of lan- 
guage is an obstacle much more formidable — one, 
in fact, that hitherto has proved insurmountable. 
Man, prompted by avarice or curiosity, has long 
since passed the boundary assigned by the poet ; 
but the diversity of language still exists, dividing 
nations into separate, and often into hostile, com- 
munities, which otherwise, like kindred drops, 
would have flown into one. 

Words are characters of the first importance to 
individuals constituted as we are, sustaining to 
each other various relations, both social and do- 
mestic, while we are battling with the many ene- 
mies of our son Is. Nay, who can even form a 
vain conception of the untold influence of a single 
word, when spoken in due season, and in a proper 
mode ? Its deep and fadeless influences are often 
20 



458 Scholastic Literature. 

stamped upon the tablets of the heart indelibly. 
Yes, need we but turn our eyes upon the peaceful 
and domestic circles, where harmony, like an 
angel, sits enthroned in every heart, to witness its 
power; and with w T hat lasting impressions the 
kind admonitions of an affectionate mother finds a 
thrice welcome reception in the bosom of her ten- 
der offspring, while she is marking out the paths 
which perhaps may direct their wandering steps 
to fadeless glory, and forming characters which 
will serve them as an anchor to guard against the 
many errors and devices of man, while their frail 
bark is drifting down the rugged stream of life 
with the velocity of time ! Nay, those kind ad- 
monitions will often return fresh, and with double 
weight, with the memories of the past; while in 
solitude do we call to memory the scenes that our 
weeping eyes beheld, while silently gazing upon 
the pale visage, and anxiously catching the last 
sweet accents as they are borne away by the 
gentle breeze of heaven, until they die away in 
the murmurings of the distance, or in the midnight 
visions, when all Nature is surrounded by the nat- 
ural sables. Let us all keep in memory that this 
is not true and applicable to those things that make 
man noble and great alone, but also to all that 
tend to degrade him. If, in the private circles, 
words are such potent engines of good and evil, 
what estimation shall we place upon the influence 



Words. 459 

of the great congregations, or the high places of 
nations, where statesmen and senators convene to 
deliberate upon the public interests ? Here our 
minds will spontaneously revert to the wise and 
distinguished men of antiquity, whose words even 
now awake within us sensations of sympathy which 
we cannot resist, while they recount the many 
wrongs that they received at the hand of some 
cruel monarch ; or to the orator, whose eloquence 
was so overpowering and resistless that the credu- 
lous heathen thought that the gods had descended 
to him in the likeness of man; or descend to a 
more recent date, and observe the homage paid to 
a Fox or Burke in the Old World; or our own 
heaven-favored land, and we may trace its power 
and might in Henry Clay and Calhoun. Calhoun 
once being asked who, in his opinion, was the great 
man, his response was: "The man that knows 
how to speak the words that will save the country 
in time of great peril, when the destinies of a na- 
tion are suspended upon the decisions of an hour. 
Such a man is worth more than all the people of 
a generation." Who can comprehend the influence 
of an Edwards, a Whitefield, or a Marion, who pos- 
sessed the tongue of the learned, and knew how 
to speak glad tidings ? How precious the words 
they uttered ! or how joyous to the shepherds, as 
they watched their little flocks, was the announce- 
ment of "Peace on earth and good-will toward 



460 Scholastic Literature. 

man!" — words that have been caught up and re- 
peated by ten thousand tongues, until their joyous 
accents have been wafted to all parts of the globe, 
and to-day are reechoing from the sacred altar, to 
soothe the restless spirits of dying mortals. 



Love. 461 



LOYE. 

BY S. R. COLLINS. 

I propose, for a few brief moments, to call your 
attention to this familiar theme. There is no one 
in all the vast universe but what can give some- 
thing worthy of its due importance. Spend not 
thy time in useless regrets over what is past, for 
it cannot avail thee. Weep not for those that have 
passed from time to eternity, for all the tears thou 
sheddest, though equal in quantity to those poured 
forth by the nymph of olden times, could not re- 
animate the lifeless corpse, or recall the fleeting 
spirit ! But let me call your attention to that as- 
piration that lies within the breast of every one — 
which is love. The love of home is felt by every 
patriot-warrior, or even the little infant has some- 
thing within it, if it could but have the language 
to express its love to the little prattling babes that 
it is accustomed to smile upon. The brighest 
leaves in our heavenly laurel-crown shall be the 
memories of good deeds on earth, and the thoughts 
of those we love so well. The brightest glory of 



462 Scholastic Literature. 

the burning seraph will be increased and intensi- 
fied by the addition of the holy loves of earth. 
I might twine a lovely garland of these heaven- 
born and returning flowers, fit for the brow of 
holy fair ones, here through this sad vale of tears. 
First, let love, such as the poet feels, which he 
calls his own, and worships with his whole life 
beside his daily altar, take its place high on the 
flowery throne. Then mighty winds that separated 
the seas from the dry land, when He created both, 
swept at the same time over the fields of heaven, 
and scattered its fair fruits and flowers wide over 
our dreary world. One blessed mortal caught the 
wandering harp-string, torn from the bright spirit's 
hand by the rude wind, and with it awoke the 
sublime strains of lofty song. Another, hearing 
the rushing of the seraph's strain, henceforth lives, 
with a heart of love burning, glowing, and bright- 
ening evermore. Others heard, amidst the tem- 
pest's roar, the clamor of many angels, arming for 
the battle of the Lord, and straightway a nation 
girded on its sword for deeds of valor and mighty 
daring. One has one gift, another a different one 
— all from Him, the lover of all good. 

Should you, like the model orator of the sunny 
South, love to stroll along some gurgling fountain 
and draw from its limpid waters the shining fish ; 
in that Hesperian land there are flowing streams 
where bounds the wide-mouthed trout and swims 



Love. 463 

the sable cat, and before these monarchs of the 
pearly brook swims a glittering host of the scaly 
tribe, which recede as they advance, like tiny stars 
before the rising moon. What place is there that 
we should love more than the thoughts and pleas- 
ures of a sweet home ? Home, where, ah ! where 
is the careless heart that has not known thy fas- 
cinating influence, that ever sheds such a luster of 
joy over the pathw T ay of life's rugged shores ? It 
matters not what may be the proud station of 
man — whether he be elevated to the loftiest pin- 
nacle of earthly eminence, power, and grandeur, 
or whether he take his stand among the more 
humbled followers of human happiness — yet, ever 
and anon, the dim retrospection of the past pre- 
sents to his aspiring mind the many loved scenes 
of his youthful home, and too painfully forces 
upon him the sad conviction that these were the 
golden moments of his life, soft as the memory of 
buried love, pure as the prayers childhood wafts. 
Home is the wish of the weary soldier ; and 
tender visions, oft mingled with his troubled 
dreams of tented fields, floating banners, and red- 
dened battle's glittering array, come up before him. 
The name of Sir Isaac Newton will ever be dear 
to the hearts of the American people ; yes, that 
man around whose fair brow hangs the wreath of 
literary fame. Away in the vine-clad sunny 
South, where the evergreen palm-tree waves its 



464 Scholastic Literature. 

graceful plumage to every passing breeze, where 
birds of golden wings and joyous songs flash and 
flicker among gardens of gorgeous flowers, the lone 
exile sits gazing on the wonders around him. 



The Affections. 465 



THE AFFECTIONS. 

BY T. S. ELLIOTTE. 

how beautiful is the first rose of spring, the 
first star of evening, the first golden tint of dawn 
— yea, even the first written memorial of the being 
we love ! But far more beautiful is the human 
heart — that inner principle, that mysterious, Di- 
vine essence, which, amid all the changes incident 
to life, amid hopes and fears, amid prosperities 
and adversities, sunshine and darkness, will never 
forsake us, but ever find some object to which it 
will attach itself, and with which it will hold 
sweet communion. Not the golden gleam which 
fell from the half-open gates of Paradise on the 
drooping wing of some cherub, could thrill the 
soul with more delightful sensations than the 
powers of love! It Christianizes every feeling, 
concentrates every wild and bewildering impulse 
of the heart's love, holy and mysterious. Love 
is the garland-spring of life, the poet of Nature. 
It exists everywhere : it burns as brilliant on the 
snow-clad mountains of Siberia as in the tropical 
20* 



466 /Scholastic Literature. 

bowers of the sunny South. Its song is heard in 
the rude hut of the poor, as well as in the gor- 
geous palace of the rich, and its light imparts a 
brilliancy to the hearts of the virtuous wanderers 
of earth. Love is the music and unseen spell that 
soothes the wild and rugged tendencies of human 
nature — that lingers around the sanctuary of the 
fireside, and unites in closer union the affections 
of society. Friends may forsake us; the riches 
of this earth may soar away; but the hearts that 
love will cling the closer. During the roaring 
storm, and amid the wreck of the tempest, it will 
serve as a beacon to light us on to love and hap- 
piness. Wisely and beautifully has it been said 
by the poet of old, that our affections are immor- 
tal, and God himself is love; for it tempers the 
weakest soul, gives strength to the feeble, teaches 
the heart to believe, reason to trust in despite 
of doubt, filling it with the richest of harmony. 
It adds even to our affections the beautiful and 
sublime, for never are our sensibilities so keenly 
alive as when under its delightful influence. 

Love is the soul of the universe: without it, 
the world would be a desert — life would be en- 
durance, not enjoyment. Hallowed by its inspira- 
tion, devoted woman follows the object of her 
adoration through all the gradations of crime and 
woe; and when the heart-strings break, when life 
takes its last lingering flight from earth, then love 



The Affections. 467 

— pure, immortal love — soars upward, and joins 
with the white-robed choir in an anthem of glory 
to the great Redeemer of mankind, who first loved 
us, and commanded us to love one another. How 
beautiful, how ennobling is that affection which 
dwells around our firesides and in our home cir- 
cles, with smiles for the joyous, and tears for the 
sad distrust and doubt darkening the brightness 
of its purity! But kindness and filial affection 
bloom there in all the freshness of an eternal 
spring. It matters not if the world is cold, if we 
can but turn to our own loved circle, and ask and 
receive all that our hearts claim — a look of love, 
a word of kindness, and a tear of sympathy — 
that electric attraction that never falls in vain, 
but waters and fertilizes the soil of the most 
sterile heart, and causes it to flourish with the 
beautiful flowers of gratitude and love. Who 
would live without its holy influence, its eternal 
sunshine ? Without it the fireside, that should be 
paradise, is but a gathering-place of horrid looks 
and still colder words; while with its influence all 
is cheerfulness and bliss. 'Tis the word of the 
enchanter, the spell of the fairy, and the sign of 
the genii; yet poets have sung of the joys of 
oblivion, and longed to bathe their weary pinions 
in Lethe's turbid wave, unmindful that if grief 
steps in the shadowed stream it must sink, bear- 
ing on its dark bosom the joys, the loves of earth. 



468 Scholastic Literature. 

Rather let us love, and drink the mingled cup; 
the bitter dregs will better enable us to appre- 
ciate the sweet. The world is full of love; the 
air is living with its spirit, and the waves dance 
to the music of its melodies, and sparkle in its 
brightness. 

"Sweet is the light of open day, 
And sweet the rising sun, 
When stars from yonder azure sky 
Are fading one by one. 

"But sweeter far than realms above, 
Or than the starry showers, 
Are hearts of tenderness and love, 
That kindly throb with ours." 



Man's a Pendulum, Etc. 469 



MAN'S A PENDULUM BETWIXT A SMILE 
AND A TEAR. 



BY WILLIAM C. ELLIOTTE. 



Change hovers ever, with blighted wing, over 
the beautiful, the grand, and the great. The 
beautiful flower that blooms in the morning, and 
opens its tender leaves to receive the gentle rays 
of the rising sun, is withered before the western 
shadows have lengthened over the mead; the ma- 
jestic oak that has braved the wintry blast, and 
around whose top the lightnings have played in 
harmless fury for ages, is suddenly upturned by 
the raging tornado; the grandest achievements of 
art and genius, the most towering monumental 
piles, most gorgeous palaces, and magnificent cit- 
ies, that ever flattered the pride of a prince, or 
pampered the folly of a monarch, now lie molder- 
ing in the dust. Parthenon, with its beautiful 
imagery, that almost trembled into life beneath 
the touch of a Phidias, is now a heap of ruins. 

Man, too, the chief of the terrestrial creation, 
with all his boasted powers of mind, by which he 



470 Scholastic Literature. 

has been able to seek out the deep things of God, 
has felt the breath of this blighting spirit. Yea, 
even the soul itself, the seat of affection, has con- 
tributed to make him the special instrument of 
its power. A being of impulse, he is elated to 
the acme of felicity by the gale of prosperity, and 
is sunk to the lowest depths of despair by the 
breeze of adversity. Cast forth from a scene of 
enchanting loveliness, to make his way through 
storms and tempests, to become the grand artisan 
of his own fortune, it is but reasonable to suppose 
that he would be a child of sorrow, as well as 
joy. It is ever so. From the time he, a tender 
infant, begins to watch with anxious inquiry the 
tear dancing in the eye of his fond mother, through 
the sportive days of youth, the sober days of 
manhood, down to the cold, damp tomb — like the 
rose swinging to every passing zephyr, now smil- 
ing, then sorrowing, he passes away. The youth- 
ful aspirant, with brilliant hopes and burning am- 
bition, listening to the siren notes of the angel 
of distinction, as she sits enthroned upon her lofty 
temple, with wreath in hand, ready to bind his 
brow, may feel a thrill of joy at every step he 
gains ; yet every leaf of that laurel may become 
a fiery serpent that will sting his bosom with 
deadly pangs. The statesman, with his heart 
burning with patriotism, and his tongue sweetened 
with eloquence, battling in his country's cause, 



Man's a Pendulum, Etc. 471 

and vanquishing her enemies at every stroke of 
his powerful arm, may rejoice in his triumph, and 
exult in his strength; yet public opinion, with its 
giant power, hurls him from his exalted position, 
and may perhaps cast him, a wandering exile, on 
some barren shore, or lead him with chains to pine 
beneath the walls of a sickening dungeon. The 
patriot, whose hearth has been desolated by the 
hand of some foreign foe, may raise the shout of 
joy at being able to level him at his feet; yet as 
he lifts the bleeding victim from the earth to 
plunge the glittering dagger to his heart, moved 
by pity, he drops a tear over his gushing life- 
blood. 

Not only has the angel of joy been bathed in 
tears at the altar of the social hearth, or grieved 
over the loss of the strong man, but she has been 
made to droop beneath the load of a nation's sor- 
row. There was a time when the world was en- 
veloped in a mantle of superstition and idolatry, 
more impenetrable and destructive than Egyptian 
darkness. Not one ray of light emanating from 
the throne of God penetrated the dark depths of 
man's soul. Nought but the cries of human vic- 
tims, perishing on the sacrificial altar, sounding 
through the gloom of some sacred grove, or the 
clash of contending armies, fall upon the ear. In 
this starless midnight of desolation, light sud- 
denly burst upon the world. The Star of Bethle- 



472 Scholastic Literature. 

hem, stepping forth from the depths of the firma- 
ment, opened up the pathway to true happiness 
and hope. The pure fountain of Christian benev- 
olence and love had begun to send forth their 
healthful streams for the healing of the nations. 
But alas ! too soon. Papal despotism, like some 
huge monster that haunts us in our daily medita- 
tions and nightly dreams, dripping with Chris- 
tians' gore and orphans' tears, raises its destroying 
visage, blighting the tender buddings of Christian- 
ity, and crushing beneath its unhallowed tread the 
brightest flowers in the pathway of life. As the 
hermit, his heart impressed with the foot-prints 
of superstition, his nature corrupted by the un- 
bridled license of Catholicism, bowed at the tomb 
of our Saviour, and imprinted kisses upon the 
cold stones, indignant at the pagan, he fostered in 
his bosom a detestation against him whom he sent 
forth with a voice that flew like the crash of thun- 
der borne upon the wings of the lightning, till 
Europe, like the sea convulsed by the storm, 
startled the soul with its commotions. Now not 
only the sturdy warrior girds on the heavy pan- 
oply of war, but the tender mother, with the in- 
fant of her bosom, joins in the general frenzy. 
Ay, even beauty's fairest flowers rush into the 
ranks of war, with the fleetness of an Achilles 
and the valor of a Miltiades, though famine and 
pestilence scatter their numbers, like leaves of the 



Man 's a Pendulum, Etc. 473 

forest when summer is gone, and the wintry winds 
have come. And the mother and the infant, strug- 
gling in the embrace of death, while the groans 
of the dying and the shrieks of the wounded 
make the welkin ring, are undaunted. The mighty 
hosts press on to the scene of anxiety, and when 
the adorned Jerusalem ushers into view, with all 
its thrilling associations, then reason leaves its 
corrupted seat, and, like the Alpine avalanche, 
they rush upon the devoted city of God, demol- 
ishing its walls, and spreading far and wide the 
marks of desolation and woe, till they have 
drenched its streets with gore; nor does the 
dripping sword find its way to the scabbard till it 
has drunk the life-blood of the last infant clinging 
to the icy bosom of the slaughtered mother. 

Despond not, philanthropist — turn not, Chris- 
tian, from this bloody page in the history of the 
world ! It was but the opening of a theater where 
man might exhibit the triumph of truth, and the 
true dignity of his nature. That glorious theater 
is here. When the last ray of hope was fast fad- 
ing from the earth — yes, after the South grounded 
her arms — a bright gleam of hope appeared in the 
South. Here the traveler, weary of his wander- 
ings, could find refuge from the storm that threat- 
ened destruction to him. But vain are thy prat- 
ings, siren tongue of hope ! Man is still a pen- 
dulum 'twixt a smile and a tear! When the 



474 Scholastic Literature. 

smoke wreathing above the forests of the Potomac 
announced that the fires of persecution had been 
kindled on our sacred shore — when the lion of 
the North, raising his deadly roar in the lowlands 
of Virginia, rolled like muttering thunder through 
the land, and awakened the widow's wail and 
orphan's cry, yet as they stood upon the ram- 
parts of Virginia, their hearts swelling with grati- 
tude, and raising the shout of victory, they were 
at last compelled to submit to the yoke; and then 
casting their eyes round upon their bleeding com- 
panions, they would sink beneath the load of a 
philanthropist's sorrow. But we rejoice when we 
remember that their blood was the purchase of 
the world. And still they shall continue to move 
on in their course, like the current of the irresist- 
ible river, bearing man to the goal of his career, 
till the bursting echoes of a world renewed, rising 
heavenward, shall proclaim that sighing and sor- 
rowing are clone away. 



Women of the South. 475 



WOMEN OF THE SOUTH. 

BY ALICE HOPWOOD. 

The women, throughout God's creation, are the 
best part of his handiwork. Amongst saints and 
savages we find them always arrayed on virtue's 
side, ministering to the wants of suffering hu- 
manity, and relieving the wants of the distressed. 
No matter whether it be amid the burning sands 
of Arabia or the Polar snows of Iceland, we find 
woman the same kind, benevolent, and sympa- 
thizing being, ever ready to soothe the brow of 
care, and comfort the troubled mind. No man, in 
trouble or distress, ever approached a true woman 
without finding sympathy and relief, if in her 
power to render it. The women in all ages have 
shown those noble traits of patience, forbearance, 
and virtue, akin to which our Saviour taught, and 
which fallen humanity are forced to admire and 
reverence. 

There are in the Southern States thousands of 
women who were born to fortune, and who from 
their cradle were accustomed to wealth, luxury, 



476 Scholastic Literature. 

and refinement. They lost their husbands, sons, 
and brothers on many a blood-stained field of 
battle, and had their fortunes stripped from them 
by unbridled power, and themselves left, poor and 
destitute, to the cold charities of an unfriendly 
world.; but we have not heard that they turned 
mendicants or paupers. We know many who have 
become teachers, instructresses, and governesses, 
boarding-house keepers, and workers in- every hon- 
orable and laudable way, but not one who has 
turned beggar. They have not made a capital of 
their woes; but, like pure, true, noble, and brave 
women — for such, I say, they are — they are labor- 
ing faithfully and truly to support and educate 
their fatherless children, their younger brothers 
and sisters, and endeavoring to raise up for com- 
ing time a race of true statesmen and heroes, who 
shall not dishonor the memory of their fathers. 
God will smile on such noble and heroic efforts. 
The sons that these Spartan mothers are rearing 
will yet add to their fathers' fame; and the daugh- 
ters they are raising in the paths of purity, truth, 
and gentleness, will give additional splendor to the 
glories of the coronet which sparkles upon the 
brows of Southern women. 

The great hope and safeguard of a republic 
is the influence of the true, pure, and religious 
women; they have a restraining and an ennobling 
influence over the rougher and more impetuous 



Women of the South. 477 

nature of man, elevating him above the lower and 
baser things of life, and enabling him to assume 
the true stature and position of a man. These 
noble women, with their heavenly influences, we 
have in the South; they have been proved — al- 
most going through the ordeal of fire — and have 
stood the test unscathed and unsullied; and no 
nation is in danger of its liberties being taken 
from it whilst it can point to such noble mothers, 
wives, and daughters as the South now possesses. 
" Gentle woman, ever kind," the poet has sung ; 
and it is as much of a truth now as then. With- 
out this influence man would be a savage, and the 
world would be an arena of strife and wickedness. 
True religion and true liberty are nowhere found 
where true, noble, and elevated women do not 
dwell. The poet Campbell says of Adam: 

"Still slowly passed the melancholy day, 
And still the stranger knew not where to stay ; 
The world was sad, the garden was a wild, 
And man, the hermit, sighed till woman smiled." 

Another poet sings as follows : 

"When o'er man's dark'ning brow the storm 

Is gathering, in its power and might, 
The radiant beam of woman's form 

Shines through the cloud, and all is light ; 
When dire disease prepares her wrath, 

To pour in terror from above, 
How gleams upon his glowing path 

The glowing light of woman's love!" 



478 Scholastic Literature. 

The gentle and purifying influence of woman 
falls on man as the light and pure snow-flake falls 
upon the firm ground, softening and enriching the 
coarser element it falls upon; so the noble women 
of the South, imperceptibly, but most certainly, 
wield this soft and mild influence on the men and 
youth of the South, and will continue to do so 
while she holds the high and ennobling attributes 
which she now possesses. 



Disappointm ent. 479 



DISAPPOINTMENT. 

BY KITTIE HARRIS. 

I have chosen a subject, at this time of writing, 
that is worthy of the consideration of our best 
and most learned scholars. I feel and know that 
I am not capable of doing the subject justice. 
However, I shall do the very best I can, as I have 
always done on former occasions. 

We are all subject to disappointment, both man 
and the inferior animals. I care not how noble or 
ignoble, how great or how small, they are all sub- 
ject to disappointment. But I shall not attempt 
to point out or trace up the disappointments which 
attend the inferior animals, though they would 
afford us some striking illustrations, and impart 
to us great encouragement, as it did to Joseph 
when he sat down under the old eagle tree, to 
watch and bestow unavailing pity on the noble 
bird. But I desire briefly and simply to notice 
man in disappointments; though I would at first 
call the attention and enlist the feelings of our 
own dear sex, for woman's feelings, sooner ma- 



480 Scholastic Literature. 

tured than man's, more early sink to decay. The 
blight of one hope, the disappointment of one 
vision of happiness, throws a chill over woman's 
prophetic spirit, and wraps every thing in dreams 
and in anticipated ruin. Man is a different being, 
by his habits, his education, and his associations. 
From disappointment he plunges into new plea- 
sures ; from one lost object he rushes on to new 
pursuits. Well would it be for woman if she 
would leave the haunts of sadness, and move on 
in the pursuit of real enjoyment! Well would it 
be if the light laugh and careless brow of woman 
were not roses over a sepulcher ! Many a bright 
eye is dimmed, and many a fair brow clouded, 
while the more rugged spirit of man passes the 
fiery ordeal of suffering, with equal relish for a 
second pursuit, and equal strength for a second 
disappointment. Many a gay heart is broken, 
and the young bosom rests in the silent tomb, or 
seeks almost as lonely retirement; while the buoy- 
ant spirit of man would trample down the thorny 
troubles, and rove on among the buds and flowers 
of happiness. 

But to return more closely to my subject. Dis- 
appointment is in itself bitter, but when the re- 
membrance of past follies is added to the scenes 
of present suffering, it fills up the cup of agony. 
But the medicine, though bitter, is salutary, and 
should be drunk without a murmur. If thou hast 



Disappointment. 481 

lost the hope most dear to thy heart, seek not to 
overpower the voice of conscience by the noise 
of the world's folly, or to drown the memory of 
thy disappointment in the tide of dissipation; but 
ponder on the vanity of earthly pursuits, and it 
may be that thy disappointments will lead thee 
to "Him who chasteneth whom he loveth;" for 
there is language in disappointment louder than 
the thunders of heaven, for it speaks to the heart, 
and not to the ear; and he who has lost his hopes 
of happiness in this world should indeed feel that 
happiness is to be obtained elsewhere, and that 
his hopes should be placed beyond this vale of 
tears, and on a more firm foundation than earth 
can afford. 
21 



482 Scholastic Literature. 



SELF-RELIANCE. 

BY J. O. FOWLEE. 

It is made obligatory upon me, as one of the 
students of this Institute, to stand before you and 
offer a few remarks for your consideration ; and 
as a base for what I shall say, the following sub- 
ject is offered : " Self-reliance." 

Men are not born, but are made. Genius, 
worth, power of mind, are more made than born. 

"Genius, born, may grovel in the dust; 
Genius, made, may mount to the skies." 

Our great and good men, that stand along the 
paths of history as bright and shining lights, are 
witnesses of these truths. They stand there as 
everlasting pleaders for employment. Now, what 
is true of men, in this respect, is equally true of 
women. If employment is the instrumentality in 
making men, it is equally so in making women. 
There is something noble, grand, glorious in a 
woman; she is the impersonation of spiritual 
beauty. We know that a young man, thrown upon 



Self-reliance. 483 

his own resources, is more likely to be a great and 
good man than one cradled in the lap of luxuries 
or fortune. Why is it ? Simply because he seeks 
employment, and depends upon himself for what 
he is to be and do. He leans not on another, and 
hence grows strong by standing alone. A woman 
can no more be a true woman, than a man can be 
a true man, without employment and self-reliance. 
We think every boy in the country should be 
taught to make his own living, and every woman, 
to some extent, domesticated, even if she is 
wealthy. 

Life is a struggle. Take a young man, place 
him in the midst of a fortune, whose pecuniary 
circumstances are such that he can keep his chil- 
dren from mental or moral labor, so far as accu- 
mulating a sustenance is concerned, and he grows 
up dormant and ignorant of business facilities 
necessary for life in the future. He possesses no 
industry, no energy, enterprise, or any qualifica- 
tions for business. We think that when parents 
train their children up to expect ease of life, lux- 
uries, etc., without knowing any thing of the labor 
required to supply their wants and pleasures, they 
are absolutely doing them injury — yea, even in- 
justice. Young men more particularly, we think, 
are apt to contract the habits of a spendthrift, and, 
indeed, know nothing, except to spend money, 
loiter about, and, painful to say, often become ad- 



484 Scholastic Liter attire. 

dieted to habits that are ruinous to young men — 
habits of dissipation, etc. 

It is said by some of the wisest philosophers 
that idleness is the supplement to crimes almost 
innumerable — blasphemy, drunkenness, and dissi- 
pation in general. If a young man who has been 
properly instructed while in youth, when he be- 
comes old enough to shift for himself, will always 
bear in mind the evils that attend idleness and in- 
difference, we think our country would be far more 
prosperous : in place of poverty, wickedness, and 
disquiet, all would be greeted by prosperity and 
plenty. If young men, when they arrive at man- 
hood, and are free under the law, would at once 
place themselves upon their own resources, and 
go forward, we think many would be successful, 
who perhaps will signally fail in business, judging 
from those who have failed. As we have already 
said, those who have been depending upon others 
for sustenence, from youth up to manhood, have 
never acquired a knowledge how to transact busi- 
ness, have never known what responsibility men 
in business have resting upon them; and after 
they embark in business, their interest depends 
upon how much energy, judgment, economy, and 
industry they use in their respective avocations. 
We believe, farther, that men, when they settle in 
business, should at all times depend, as much as 
possible, upon their own resources. 



Self-reliance. 485 

And now, my fellow-students, I think we would 
all do well to consider the ideas I have been giv- 
ing, not only after we shall have embarked into 
business avocations of life, but now, while we are 
engaged in the school-room. I think it too often 
the case with us, as students in school, that we 
rely upon each other for instruction, while we 
should study out for ourselves each problem as 
it is presented to us. Now we have closed the 
present session, let us continue to study; let us 
remember, after we have left our teachers, to rely 
on our own minds for improvement, and continue 
to study. 



486 Scholastic Literature. 



MATRIMONY. 

BY DORA SNELL. 

Of all the states in the United States, this, the 
married state, seems to me to be the most miserable 
and wretched state to live in, especially for woman. 
No doubt it is an advantage to men to get some 
one to take care of them. This was why it was 
said that man should not live alone ; and I reckon, 
after all, it is well that woman was created, and 
marriage was instituted ; for what would man be if 
it were not for woman? and what are some of them, 
at best, any way ? 

We often see husbands finding fault with their 
wives — they are so hard to please — nothing but an 
expense; and it was woman that brought all the 
woe and misery on mankind, by eating the forbid- 
den fruit. Well, if Eve plucked the apple, did 
not she give half of it to her husband ? and did 
not he eat it and think it was very good? And no 
doubt he wished he had got it first, so that he 
could have eat it all by himself, and not thought 
of his wife — just as the men do now, when they 



Matrimony. 487 

get any thing good to eat : they help themselves, 
and never think of their wives. 

" But, O woman, in thine hours of ease, 
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, 
When pain and anguish wring the brow, 
A ministering angel art thou !" 

It is said that marriage is a means of grace. 
Well, I suppose any thing is a means of grace 
that breaks down pride, and leads to repentance ; 
and I'm sure marriage does this. The wife is 
never appreciated and estimated by her husband 
as she ought to be. This is one reason why I'm 
an advocate for single life. I speak not from ex- 
perience, but from observation ; for, dear me ! I 
can see enough without wishing to experience this 
life, and I am astonished that so many girls leap 
so blindly from single blessedness to married 
wretchedness. But so it is : girls will listen to 
the flattery of men, while they make hymns to 
their beauty, and call them almost divine. Yes, 
they will listen to their promises, such as "Happi- 
ness shall be yours, thy pathway shall be strewed 
with flowers," until they are forced to believe. To 
be sure, all is pleasant for awhile ; but, alas ! 
thorns soon begin to grow instead of flowers, and 
vinegar and sour buttermilk take the place of pies 
and honey. The husband neglects his wife, ceases 
to notice or care for her ; she reminds him of his 



488 Scholastic Literature. 

voluntary promises to her before marriage, and he 
will deny them, or pay no attention to them. 

And now, girls, let me warn you in time. Lis- 
ten not to the vows of men. 

" You may write in the sand, when the tide is low ; 
You may seek a place where the waters flow; 
You may whisper a name, when the wind is heard, 
And pause that the echo may catch the word. 
If what you write in the sand should last, 
If echo is heard 'mid the tempest's blast, 
Till then I'd believe, and not till then, 
That there is truth in the vows of men." 

Some men say that a wife is the main thing; 
and I reckon they are, for who is it that's 

" Up early in the morning, just at the peep of day, 
Getting the breakfast, straining the milk, and turning the 

cows away ; 
Sweeping the floor in the kitchen, making the beds up and 

down stairs, 
Washing the breakfast-dishes, and dusting the walls and 

chairs?" 

It's the wife, of course. But who is it that's 

" Smoking away in bed, as though they never intended to 

wake, 
While breakfast is freezing on the table, and it is getting so 

very late ? " 



The husband, to be sure. Who is it that 



Matrimony. 489 

" Brushes the crumbs from the table, and hunts the eggs at 

the barn, 
Cleans the turnips for dinner, and spins the stocking-yarn ; 
Hangs out the clothes on the bushes below, 
And ransacks every meadow where the strawberries grow ; 
Starching the fixings for Sunday, churning the snowy 

cream, 
Einsing the pails and strainer down in the running stream ; 
Feeding the geese and turkeys, making the cakes and pies, 
Jogging the little one's cradle, and driving away the flies?" 

Is it the husband? Not lie; but if he comes 
home and sees the children are crying, supper is 
not ready, and the wife is scolding a servant, he 
is ready to fly in a passion, and blame her for all, 
forgetting that she has been at home all day long, 
vexed and tormented by squalling brats and im- 
pudent servants, while he has been at town all day 
reading the news. 

There are so few husbands that are worthy of 
a wife that it is best to have none at all. But 
ah ! this married state — all who enter it mourn 
their folly too late ! Now, young girls, is not this 
enough to disgust you ? You'd better have a mill- 
stone hung about your neck, and be cast into the 
sea, than to put your head into the matrimonial 
noose. I have said there are few husbands, and 
but few, who are worthy of their wives. Very 
often you see him at home, but there are no at- 
tractions there for him. His thoughts do not cling 
to home, but to some place of resort, where he 
21* 



490 Scholastic Literature. 

might be free from the tiresome task of nursing 
the children, while his wife is blacking his boots, 
sewing the buttons on his pants, darning his socks, 
etc., etc. So I again repeat it, dear girls, you had 
better have a millstone hanged to your neck, and 
be thrown into the sea, than to put your head into 
this halter. 



No More. 491 



NO MORE. 

BY G. W. NIX. 

There is a thrilling pathos in the words, " No 
more ! " They suggest to the reflecting mind a 
thousand vivid recollections, many of which are 
brightly illumined by the sunshine of happiness, 
whilst others are heavily fraught with regrets 
most painful, and sadly dimmed by darkest clouds 
of sorrow. The mighty past comes rushing back 
upon the mind, until it becomes half bewildered 
with the remembrance of what is now no more, 
and we almost feel that the business of the noise- 
less embassadors of time is only to scatter wasted 
flowers upon the grave of bliss, and to erect early 
monuments to the memory of what once existed 
to gladden our joyous hearts in this transitory 
life. Time rolls on in its resistless course, bearing 
with it the frail barks of those we love, the inno- 
cent victims of its mad career, which are wildly 
rocked and tossed upon its raging billows, like 
floating wrecks on the heaving bosom of the 



492 Scholastic Literature. 

mighty deluge. The grim death-angel has found 
his way into our own happy home circle, and 
there ruthlessly severed the golden cord which 
had till then thrown round us its magic influence, 
and bound together our loving, youthful hearts in 
ties of love most sacred. 

And now, when twilight approaches — the sea- 
son that ever is sacred to song — we feel our sad 
hearts throb with grief to know that the rich, 
mellow tones of his melodious voice will never 
again swell with rapture in our broken choir, till 
we join him in that blissful choir of angels in 
heaven, where we shall be reunited, and forever 
sing anthems of praise which shall fill the gilded 
courts of that world of light. Often, as we gaze 
upon the beauties of the gentle moon — bright gem 
of heaven's azure sea — we think, and sadden at 
the thought, that it ne'er again will shine on that 
manly form; that its soft rays will never more 
illumine that classic brow, nor light up those dark, 
earnest eyes, which were so truthfully typical of 
the generous heart and noble soul that dwelt be- 
neath them. Yes, alas ! one we loved has gone ! 
We stand at the newly-made grave, over which 
Nature has not yet spread its soft carpet, and 
listen to the wind as it sweeps across the marble 
columns that surround the narrow house of our 
departed one, and whispers, in its low and solemn 
accents, "No more!" Some fond hope, some long- 



No More. 493 

cherished affection, is suddenly cut off by the 
cruel, ruthless destroyer. A withering blight 
comes upon it, and it fades slowly and sadly 
away. Its grave is far down in the deepest re- 
cesses of the heart, and grief sits watching at its 
side, unexposed to the gaze of the cold, unsym- 
pathizing world. Our sorrow is subdued, but 
poignant; for there is no grief which is so bit- 
terly felt as that which lies subdued under the 
restraints of a determined will. 

A mother gazes long and tenderly upon her 
beautiful child, and as she listens, only as a mother 
can listen, to its innocent prattle, she fondly pic- 
tures to herself the unseen future in golden colors 
too brilliant and beautiful for reality. A few 
days glide quickly away, and the scene is changed. 
Those once bright eyes are dim; those fair young 
limbs are cold and stiff in death's embrace; that 
innocent, prattling tongue, that never knew how 
to speak an unkind word, is hushed forever — it 
had scarcely learned to lisp the tender name of 
"Mother," ere it was stricken down; and those 
golden pictures of a dying mother's heart are 
shrouded in the darkness of the tomb. 

The old year is no more. We gaze long and 
wistfully after it, as it quickly and silently glides 
from us, and fades away in the mists of the past. 
It has left some marks upon memory which time 
can never efface ; but the great mass of the cares, 



494 Scholastic Literature, 

the trials, and the pleasures, with which it came 
laden, is borne away with it in its rapid flight; 
and, like the cloud-shadows flying over the wav- 
ing meadow and flowering landscape, no traces of 
their existence are left behind. Uncontrollable 
memory may sometimes steal away, and wander 
back through the tangled vale of time to some 
cherished spot where we were happy, and where 
we rested awhile on the weary, and, to us, unde- 
finable journey of life; and when she returns to 
the heart from which she - thus unconsciouslv 
steals away, she perchance may bring back with 
her some of the withered flowers that we plucked 
as we passed, and dropped as they withered. 
They have long since lost their bright beauties 
and rich fragrance, but their cruel thorns are the 
last to perish. Perchance she may yet find one 
fresh and blooming flower, which hope has con- 
tinued to guard and cherish, and which, year after 
year, has blossomed unseen and died unplucked, 
and which, perhaps, will shed its last sweet fra- 
grance upon this stealthy messenger of the heart, 
as it pays its last transient visit. We say to the 
flying, dying year : " Thou wilt soon be gone ! " 
and ere the hollow echo of these mournful words 
has died upon our lips, the old year is far away, 
and almost lost in the immeasurable ocean of 
eternity; and the coming year, like the succeed- 
ing wave of the angry ocean, is washing away the 



No More, 495 

last foot-prints its retreating brother has made 
upon the sand of our changing existence. 

Dear hearers, do you not love to think of the 
past, although it is no more? Did you ever look 
upon the dry and withered rose, and reflect what 
a thing of matchless beauty it once was, and allow 
your imagination to paint it once more in the soft, 
delicate hues of unequaled splendor which the 
hand of God gave it, when young and fresh with 
the dew of heaven? Do you not love in the 
stilly eve, in the holy hour of twilight, to forget 
for a time all things that are, and giving wings to 
your imagination, bid it float back through the 
misty past, and quietly dwell among the shadows 
of things — things that are no more? Can you 
not see in each varied change the unchanging 
wisdom of Divinity, whether he paints and then 
withers the beautiful flower, or whether he creates 
and sends a new world whirling through space, 
and then removes another from the myriads that 
sparkle and dance far off in the deep blue sky? 
Can you not see that unchangeable wisdom in all 
things — a wisdom that is now as it was in the 
beginning, and will continue to live when time 
itself shall be no more? 

" ' No more !' A harp-string's deep and thrilling tone — 
A last low summer breeze — a far-off swell — 

A dying echo of rich music gone, 

Breathe through these words, these murmurs, farewell!" 



496 Scholastic Literature. 



valedictory: 

BY BERNICE NEWSOM. 

The very sound of the word "Valedictory" 
shocks the sympathetic sensibilities of every 
school-mate who has a particle of true and lasting 
friendship or affection interwoven with the various 
ambitions of the soul. We are at once reminded 
of our past associations, and at the same moment 
requested to lift the dark veil of the uncertain fu- 
ture, and look forward to coming events, and the 
many probable destinies that await us. A few 
short weeks ago we left our homes, and with a 
unity of purpose assembled in these halls. How 
far we have succeeded in that purpose, may be 
imagined by reflecting on our exercises before you, 
and our kind instructors can give you a more cor- 
rect idea than mere imagination ; but our useful- 
ness alone will be the severe critic that will com- 
pliment or reflect on us for the manner in which 
we have spent our time in the school-room. 

When the session began, each one seemed to be 
determined to drink at the fountain of science, and 



Valedictory. 497 

appropriate the elements of its waters, in such a 
manner as that they could be drawn upon in time 
of need. But in stepping forward in this bold 
determination, we had gentle wooings that inclined 
us to look back to the circle in which our affections 
had been reared and cultivated. Each heart was 
brimful of sympathetic reflections, associated with 
the fond ties of home. No intermingling of 
joys and sorrows at that time caused us to have 
that affinity of souls that can be felt, but not ex- 
pressed. But as we met daily in the halls of in- 
struction, the warm rays of our hearts were ab- 
sorbed and reflected, until we have been cemented 
in unbroken links of love and friendship, which 
have been solidified and strengthened by our being 
so constantly together as to hear every heart-throb 
of sorrow and every vibration of happiness. 

But alas ! the golden bowl must be broken ! We 
must separate ! Absence will put her conquering 
finger heavily upon the chords of love and friend- 
ship that exist between us. We will seldom feel 
the warm welcome of friendship's kiss, or see the 
peculiar glance of the eye that tells us that we 
live in each other's hearts ; yet fond memory will 
call up the past, and the remembrance of the few 
brief months of our associations will stand out 
upon life's waste as an oasis in the desert, rich 
with the most beautiful verdure of spring. Yes, 
if this brittle thread of life be lengthened out, 



498 Scholastic Literature. 

when long years have flown, and our locks are 
silvered with age, the remembrance of scenes here 
enjoyed will cause an aged heart to beat with the 
liveliest emotions of pleasure ; and it is this feel- 
ing that sustains us to-day. How depressing in- 
deed would be the thought of separation, if mem- 
ory had no treasure upon which we could feed! 

And now, my dear school-mates, the hour of 
separation approaches, and the perpetual revolu- 
tion of the wheels of time will soon approach the 
moment when we must say " Good-bye ! " how 
much latent feeling in the human heart is aroused 
by a simple yet a feeling "Good-bye," and those 
fearful misgivings that it may be a last " Good- 
bye ! " And, my dear school-mates, when we shall 
have separated, your names and faces, associated 
with many acts of love and kindness, will cluster 
around me in the lonely hours of meditation, as 
unseen messengers of solace and comfort ; and in 
return, I only ask that I may have a place in your 
warm and generous hearts, if this should prove to 
be a final separation. If the unrelenting demands 
of death should forbid us meeting again in this 
world, let us earnestly endeavor to prepare our- 
selves for a meeting around the great white throne 
of our heavenly Father, where our associations 
will be perpetual and unceasing, where there will 
be no scenes of parting or feelings of good-bye! 

Beloved teachers, we are soon to take our leave 



Valedictory. 499 

of you. It is a part of my painful duty to bid 
you adieu. You are endeared to us by strong and 
lasting ties, not only for your unremitting toil to 
impart to us the knowledge you possess, but for 
the flowers of love you have strewn along the irk- 
some paths of study, and which have done much 
to make it pleasant and fascinating. As a repre- 
sentative of the young ladies, permit me to return 
to you our heart-felt thanks for the kind manner 
in which you have discharged your duties during 
the session. 

Citizens of Lewisburg, w r e return to you our 
sincere thanks for the manner in which you have 
treated us during our short stay with you. Some 
of us came among you as strangers, and you re- 
ceived us as friends ; and now, when we must 
leave you, our lips fail to speak the emotions we 
feel ; but rest assured, our sojourn with you will 
linger on memory as long as memory itself shall 
last. But time forbids the farther expression of 
such sentiments. 

"And with feelings like some low and mournful swell, 
I bid a sad but kind. fare well." 



500 Scholastic Literature. 



PAST AND PRESENT— VALEDICTORY. 

BY L. B. COLLINS. 

The subject now under consideration is fruitful 
of thought, and well calculated to call forth the 
intellectual energies of any one; and in contem- 
plating it in its first light, it is natural for our 
minds to take a retrospective view of the past, 
and for a moment meditate upon the progress of 
nations. 

Upon the fairy and gilded wings of imagination 
we transport ourselves back to the ages when 
Greece and Rome flourished in peace and pros- 
perity, and look upon them as almost immortal, 
surrounded as they were by such mighty bulwarks 
of freedom, which seemed impervious to any op- 
position. They possessed men of genius, of tal- 
ent, of noble feelings, and high spirit; their ad- 
vantages in obtaining thorough education were 
inferior to none the world ever knew; their ora- 
tors and generals are surpassed by none in the 
annals of the world; their .munitions and instru- 
ments of battle are the best and most destructive 



Past and Present. 501 

ever used; victories unnumbered are theirs, and 
their emblems of liberty wave in triumph over 
desolated nations; yet they have passed away, 
and live only as an example to succeeding genera- 
tions. Time, in his hurried march, has but glanced 
at their imagined immortality, and the days of 
their glory are as if they had never been. The 
glory of their arms, the fame of their philosophy, 
the eloquence of their orators, and the inspiration 
of their poets are gone, glimmering through the 
dreams of things that w T ere, as school-boys' tales, 
the wonder of an hour. And what was the means 
of their destruction? Was it not by their own 
hands that they were hurled from the lofty pin- 
nacle of liberty into the dark and miserable abyss 
of slavery? We point you to history for the 
reply. 

But as we wish to be concise, we pass rapidly 
on, being drifted along the relentless stream of 
life, until we arrive at the prelude of our history. 
In the earlier and better days of our government, 
and down to the late unfortunate struggle, there 
is much to heighten, please, and elevate the pride 
of true Americans. But we have learned that 
other mighty republics have fallen, and such may 
be our destiny. We look back with pride to the 
period when our noble ancestors unbarred the 
dungeons of the slave, and dashed his fetters to 
the earth, and the sword of Washington was un- 



502 Scholastic Literature, 

sheathed to oppose our invading foe. It causes 
in us feelings of pride and admiration, as we call 
before our eyes the many noble characters to 
whom our country gave birth, to whom our insti- 
tutions gave education, and in whom our blessed 
mothers instilled the noble principle of high-mind- 
ed and virtuous manhood. Have we not upon the 
pages of our history names whose glory will never 
fade, so long as time lasts? Do we not possess 
men of genius and talent, whose history will be 
handed down to be read by people of every na- 
tion and tongue? 

But finally, our past, in comparison with the 
present, may be likened to Niagara River. Far 
up that majestic stream its waters are quiet and 
still; little children bathe and play in their depths, 
and parties of pleasure ride merrily and safely 
upon their placid bosom; but there is a point in 
its wild, mad rush, from which, once reached, 
nothing alive has ever been rescued. The Amer- 
ican people have been free, happy, and prosper- 
ous; but turn a few more pages in the volume of 
our history, and corruptions creep in, and am- 
bitious leaders grasp eagerly at the proffered op- 
portunity, and the furious desire for revolution 
calls into action the irritable spirit of our country, 
and we, like our predecessors, are involved in a 
most cruel war. 

As we have, in a very brief way, noticed the 



Past and Present. 503 

foot-prints of time for ages past, we deem it but 
due to observe for a moment the present condition 
of our country. We not only behold, but feel 
the awful effects of a devastating war. Old 
chimneys and partially broken walls now stand 
as smoked and bleared monuments of magnificent 
edifices. Mighty and flourishing cities, having 
been occupied as the seat of war, now lie molder- 
ing heaps of ruins ; and, spread out as far as the 
eye can penetrate, are devastated fields, where 
once the plowshare gleamed in the sunbeams, and 
the grazing herds fed unharmed in their quiet 
shade. Almost every plain and valley has been 
reddened with the blood of our brave soldiers, 
and their bleaching bones lie scattered on many 
hillsides. Our government once threw an arm of 
protection around every citizen, from the least 
to the greatest. But what a change has been 
wrought ! Our literature, which was once adorned 
with the genius of Irving, of Halleck, and of 
other brilliant minds, has been prostituted to 
serve the base purposes of clerical politicians and 
sanctified infidels. We have been hurled into the 
great channel of destruction, and are rapidly drift- 
ing down the precipice, as did the nations of an- 
tiquity. And no other nation under the vast 
canopy of heaven has ever suffered so great a 
downfall in so limited a period. Yes, our once 
great and good government has departed, and the 



504 Scholastic Literature. 

nation is clad in weeds of mourning over the 
wounds and death-stabs of ten free and indepen- 
dent States. The party in power has almost par- 
alyzed our form of government. They have laid 
their unhallowed hands upon that sacred instru- 
ment, the Palladium of our liberties, and shred 
by shred they have torn it to pieces. Our repub- 
lic is weak. Some of its most illustrious heroes 
are exiled from us, and others are deprived of 
every vestige of freemen's privileges. And it is 
to the rising generation that this degraded people 
look for aid. Then we should strive, to the ut- 
most of our abilities, to prepare ourselves for the 
coming crisis, in order that we may have clear- 
headed, God-fearing men at the head of our 
affairs, and those that will stand firmly by the 
right, and defend it to the last. Then, when our 
country again launches forth upon the billows of 
political commotion, we will majestically plow 
through the waves of tempestuous strife, and an- 
chor firmly upon the Constitution of '76. We, 
the hope of our country, should not let the glo- 
rious memories of the past struggle be hurled into 
the realms of oblivion. 

'Tis true the dead of our army have passed 
away, but their memories shall gleam like the 
studded milky way in the heavens, whose radiant 
effulgence will lend its luster to light us on in the 
pathway of freedom. I would by no means strive 



Past and Present. 505 

to fan the flame of dissension, but I would say to 
you with whom I have been associated as school- 
mates : "Bend not your principles to the bayonet; 
remember that submission to might is not surren- 
der of right. It was merely the success of our 
cause which was lost, not its right; for failure 
can never make it wrong." Above the smoke, 
and storm, and din of battle, unaffected by vic- 
tory or defeat, calm and immovable Justice sits 
on her eternal throne, and in her eyes right is 
right forever, and wrong is eternally wrong. The 
right of our cause fell not with our Capitol. It 
exists to-day as clearly as it did when the first 
boom of our guns sounded across the Carolina 
waters, and the palmetto flag waved triumphantly 
o'er Sumter. And on that gloomy April day, 
when our gallant leader gave up his sword, as 
bright and untarnished as when he first girded it 
on, he yielded merely and only the policy of re- 
sistance, not the principle which had lifted that 
resistance into a right, and sanctified it as a duty. 
And now Right stands amid our ruins, and point- 
ing to the glory of our cause, and waiting in hope 
for the terrible retribution of the future, lifts to- 
ward the heavens the manacled hands, which 
there at least have never pleaded in vain, and 
solemnly protests against the oppression of vic- 
torious Wrong. Then let us send forth the decree 
that justice is to be done, though the heavens fall, 
22 



506 Scholastic Literature. 

and the knees of the political leader will smite 
together like Belshazzar's did when he saw the 
handwriting on the wall! Let us fearlessly de- 
clare this as our motto, and those who have specu- 
lated in human blood for years will be disrobed 
of their ill-gotten gains, and their haughty pride 
will be humbled. This, too, will sweep out at one 
breath the tyrannical majority that now revel in 
the ruin they have wrought. Then let us be up 
and doing, procuring for ourselves education, and 
preparing our shoulders for the wheel, to assist in 
restoring our country to its pristine glory, and its 
proper position in the ranks of nations. And the 
many noble forms and intelligent countenances 
here assembled for the purpose of encouraging 
education should be to us an incentive to action. 

Do you know what a thrill of joy it gives a 
darling mother's heart, to witness by your exam- 
ination that you have been striving to fit your- 
selves for coming life ? How many of their hearts 
have been made to leap with joy, as they have 
witnessed such a decided improvement in the edu- 
cation of their much-loved children! 

My school-mates, this may be the last time we 
all may be assembled under like circumstances as 
to-day we stand allied. Times and scenes are 
changing, and we too are affected by these sad 
commotions. Perhaps there are some with us 
now as students whose voices will no more be 



Past and Present. 507 

heard in these pleasant shades. Yes, many may 
never hear again the well-known sounds of that 
old bell calling them to the study-room. Many 
of the sparkling eyes now gazing upon these 
scenes will soon be cold and lifeless. The erect 
form will bow to the grim monster, and be borne 
by friends to mingle with mother earth. My 
dear companions, in traveling up the hill of science, 
may we ever cherish in our memories the thought 
of the many pleasant hours we have spent in our 
connection with the Lewisburg Institute ! In the 
language of the poet, 

"Each fainter trace that memory holds 
So darkly of departed years, 
In one broad glance the soul beholds, 
And all that was at once appears." 

May we stamp upon the tablets of our hearts 
the many moral lessons presented us while here ! 
Let our aim in life be to live, to bless mankind by 
our precepts and examples. Let us strive to 
reach out our hand, and pluck fruit growing upon 
the highest tree — upon the broad, ambrosial top 
of Parnassus. 

My school-mates, to-day we must separate. The 
walks of life to us must be apart, and whither, 
amid the various future, they shall lead, we know 
not. Our companionship can never be forgotten, 
while our discipline and acquisition of knowledge 



508 Scholastic Literature. 

should fit us to fill with honor the responsible 
positions to be held. My fair school-mates, may 
every blessing of life be yours ! May brightest 
pleasures ever crown your pathway! May sor- 
row touch but gently your guileless hearts, while 
garlands and wreaths of joy entwine your lovely 
brows ! May the crown of honor be yours ! May 
you never forget the lofty deeds of your ances- 
tors ! May the inspirations gathered from off the 
graves of our countrymen, fallen in a hundred bat- 
tle-fields, ever swell your generous hearts ! May 
your voices ever be heard in behalf of right, fear- 
less of every foe, regardless of every danger! 
May the words upon your tongues be as so many 
swords in the hands of the sterner sex, drawn 
and wielded upon the side of justice ! while 'mid 
every contest of life, may your eyes be fixed on 
the temple of God, whose brilliant portals and 
splendid glories, gleaming in the sunlight of hea- 
ven's joyous beams, ever welcome the brave and 
daring to enter and dwell forever amid her splen- 
did domes! 

Our kind instructors, time in its rapid march 
has brought us to the close of another session, 
and the sad hour has arrived when we must bid 
you farewell. This to you must be a solemn 
word. So many — ah ! so many, have around 
here pressed your hands for the last time, and 
as this word fell from their lips, you watched 



Past and Present. 509 

their forms passing from view, to be seen no more 
by you in this world ! Your toils have been un- 
ceasing, but your rewards will be great! Hun- 
dreds, instructed by you, will ever remember the 
words of wisdom that have fallen from your lips. 
The wise counsels, urging the young on to glory 
and greatness; the brilliant examples of the hon- 
orable and noble cited by you to encourage us to 
emulate their glorious deeds; the strong rebuke 
you ever gave to vice; the stern support you al- 
ways extended to virtue — all these shall accom- 
pany us along the road of life, and be remembered 
as long as life itself shall last. May Heaven's 
smiles ever rest upon your noble lives, and you 
and yours be blessed with all that makes life 
happy here, and glorious hereafter ! 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I, as the organ and 
representative of the male department of this In- 
stitution, do tender you our most devoted thanks 
for your kindness and hospitality shown us on 
this eventful occasion. May life's pleasures attend 
you! I now bid you all an affectionate farewell. 



510 Scholastic Literature. 



LITERARY ADDRESS. 

IMPORTANCE OF SOUTHERN LITERATURE 
AND ENTERPRISE. 

BY PRESIDENT C. R. DARNALL. 

Society is ever presenting various changes in 
literary, political, moral, and spiritual aspects. 
We, as a Southern people, must establish our own 
manufactories, our own literary establishments. 
We have been relying long enough on the resources 
of others. We have a most excellent country, 
abounding in every thing necessary to make any 
country great and prosperous, if those buried 
materials can be brought to light, and made avail- 
able in their various developments. We have the 
best climate in the world, good soil, thousands of 
hidden minerals, treasures inexhaustible ; we only 
need the ingenuity and industry of man to render 
them available and profitable. And as to the as- 
pirations of mind, the South has exhibited the 
ability and efficiency of her sons both in the 
battle-field and in the national council; and now 
what else is needed to make this Heaven-blessed 



Literary Address. 511 

land just what it ought to be ? I answer : We 
need schools built up in every neighborhood ; we 
need railroads penetrating our forests; we need 
all kinds of manufacturing business patronized; 
Ave need every kind of home encouragement. 

I do not want to exhibit selfishness, but we are 
too much inclined, as a people, to patronize foreign 
markets in our purchases, neglecting to aid, foster, 
and encourage our own. Our home schools ought 
to be cherished, our home printing-presses ought 
to be employed, and the circulation of Southern 
literature extended throughout the whole land. 
In the South we have warm-hearted patriots ; we 
have philanthropists; we have mechanics of all 
kinds, who are willing to labor if they can meet 
with sufficient encouragement. But all kinds of 
Southern labor are often much discouraged by the 
very men who profess to be good Southern people. 
How is this done ? We answer : By aiding foreign 
manufacturing establishments, in buying their 
work, because it is offered a little cheaper than 
that made by your neighbor mechanic. I would 
just cite your attention to the thousands of 
wagons, plows, cradle-frames, reaping-machines, 
and even spade-handles and rakes, brought from a 
distance, as though we had no timber nor laboring 
men here. And heretofore it has been the case 
that most of our teachers, and editors, etc., had 
to come from afar, and no encouragement given to 



512 Scholastic Literature. 

our home-raised and home-educated population. 
But I am to-day glad to announce to you this im- 
portation, to some degree, has ceased; and now, 
amid our home sceneries, our home population 
has the preference. I do not wish to be under- 
stood as opposed to immigration, hut I want it 
of the right kind. I want the population to 
come to labor side by side with us, not to be our 
leaders and task-masters in literary, political, or 
religious enterprises ; I want them to feel identi- 
fied with our Southern interests, both in capital 
and talent. The great South is a producing sec- 
tion, and also a consuming people, and we ought 
to be a manufacturing people. Cotton, the great 
king of commerce, is our staple production, and at 
the present, the cotton that makes one yard of 
calico, perhaps does not cost more than two or three 
cents ; but we have to have it manufactured into 
fabrics, and every hand through which it passes to 
the factory and back to us has to have his living 
profit, and we, the original producers and final 
consumers, have to pay all this cost, and what we 
sold for two or three cents, we purchase back at 
some twelve or fifteen cents ; and so it is with 
every thing else, if I had time on such an occasion 
as this to elucidate and demonstrate the facts as 
thev are. 

Our Southern population desire the infusion into 
their midst of every thing that is calculated in its 



Literary Address. 513 

nature to ennoble, enervate, and ameliorate their 
people. They feel the sting of having to yield to 
the hand of tyranny, it is true; but still they are 
magnanimous in soul and resolution, and are will- 
ing to discharge their respective duties to all with 
whom they may mingle, and whose aid and sym- 
pathy they obtain. Our Southern people are 
generous and liberal in their views in all respects. 
They take things fair and easy, and are never try- 
ing to impose their political or religious instruction 
upon any people against their consent. They are 
pleasant in their association with strangers, and 
especially are they kind and magnanimous to those 
who treat them with due respect. The people of 
the South have lofty aspirations, and anxious de- 
sires burning in their bosoms for the welfare of the 
whole world ; and they have ever given aid, when 
in their power, to relieve the distresses of the 
poverty-stricken and abandoned of earth. Her 
rich valleys and fertile plains have heretofore 
borne productions that have been sent to remote 
regions to alleviate suffering humanity. Her 
colleges and institutions have been alike open for 
rich and poor, offering educational facilities to all 
ranks and classes of society. Her hospitals and 
other charitable institutions have been open for the 
reception of the poor as well as the rich. To make 
the great South what she ought to be, we need an 
influx of honest laboring men, with capital, to 
22* 



514 Scholastic Literature. 

assist us in putting into proper working order 
machines and manufactories of all kinds, necessary 
to work up the raw material in these States. We 
do not need an influx of carpet-baggers, office- 
seekers, religious or political suckers, and broken- 
down political scalawags ; nor do we need in our 
school-rooms, nor pulpits, those who are turned 
out of home institutions afar, and who just come 
here to rule us in politics or religion. 

The people of the South have borne, during the 
late Rebellion, more than can properly be conceived 
in the mind. Their enemies have come, and, in 
positive violation of the rules of honorable war- 
fare, they have taken their honest earnings ; they 
have entered the sacred precincts of the family 
household and taken away the last morsel of food 
from hungry children, and stripped their beds and 
cupboards of all necessary household benefits, 
often murdering, in a brutal manner, our innocent 
people. But I must desist from such rehearsals ; 
the very mention of such scenes cause the patriotic 
blood in the true Southern heart to cease its flow- 
ing for a time; yet, notwithstanding all these 
abuses and grievances, the true Southrons are will- 
ing to let "by-gones be by-gones," and they are 
willing to meet on the common ground of Chris- 
tianity and just principles of political rights, as 
guaranteed to us by the founders of this great 
Republic. Our people are willing to receive into 



Literary Address. 515 

their midst an honest laboring class of population, 
to stand side by side with us now in all our various 
successes and depressions. 

Then, my foreign friends, you who desire to 
make your home in the floral South, come here 
with proper conceptions of duty under the circum- 
stances ; come, I say, with your talent and capital, 
and assist us in repairing our waste places; help 
us build up our once prosperous cities, but now in 
ashes; help us build churches and colleges. Come 
with such magnanimous views as these, and you 
will receive a welcome reception. We will take 
you by the hand in earnest, when we learn you 
come to share with us our labors, as well as share 
the spoils of triumph and office. Give us kind 
assurances that you do not come to be our politi- 
cal and religious task-masters. We have great 
desire to see our mighty country prosper in every 
department, and for this reason our magnanimous 
South will be a quiet abode for the peace-loving 
and labor-loving part of God's creation. 

A few words to you, my patrons and students, 
and I have done. My patrons, since my settle- 
ment in your midst, you have ever given me your 
unmistaken manifestation of approval in my ardu- 
ous duties. Your constant aim has been to assist 
me " to teach the young idea how to shoot." You 
have always rendered me comfortable in your 
presence. Your very attachment to our school 



516 Scholastic Literature. 

has strengthened the chords that bind me to your 
children. I shall never forget your manifested 
zeal for my scholastic success, and I hope your 
labors and efforts in my behalf have not been in 
vain. On all occasions of the character now be- 
fore us, you have always brought to this green- 
sward, and under these cool shades, those refresh- 
ments necessary to feed and stimulate the body. 
All that has ever been necessary, on my part, 
was simply to inform you of our desires in this 
respect. 

And one word only to my lady friends. Your 
redolent faces, your sparkling eyes, your angelic 
smiles, all cheer us up on such auspicious occa- 
sions. You have ever been on the side of edu- 
cation and virtue. The cause of education is one 
which you love, and it has for one of its prime 
objects the amelioration of your race. Woman 
has ever shown herself the friend of down-trodden 
humanity. The very gushings of her heart be- 
speak for her that Christian condolence in accord- 
ance with her very nature. It is yours to allevi- 
ate the trials, lessen the woes of your race around 
your home circle. It is true, it is not in your 
sphere to attend our battle-fields amid the roar of 
cannons and clash of arms, nor to raise your voices 
in our State and national councils ; but a higher 
duty is yours : to give caste to the pliant twig of 
mind; to impress the infant heart with your 



Literary Address. 517 

maternal kindness ; to stamp the eternal principles 
of truth upon the tablets of childish memory; 
yea, it is yours to give childhood the right start 
in the right direction. It is your duty to impress 
early the holy motives and heavenly teachings of 
our blessed Redeemer on the youthful mind ; and 
my last request to you, my lady friends, is, Let 
not your work and labor of love be in vain. 

Lastly, only a few words to you, my students. 
Our associations here as teachers and students 
have been pleasant and agreeable, and, I trust, 
profitable to us all. You have ever manifested 
your respect for those who taught you. You have 
studied with commendable zeal. Your associations 
with and toward each other have been of a kindly 
tendency. I trust you have gathered information 
here that will assist you to make your way through 
the world a pleasant path, and I trust your efforts 
to gain knowledge will tell of wonders in time to 
come. And now you are about to part, let this 
separation remind you of your final separation 
from friends on earth, and my last admonition and 
advice to you can be told in few, and I think in 
very appropriate words : Do your whole duty to 
your God, yourselves, and all mankind, and 
heaven, with all its bright glories, will be your 
eternal home. 



IV. MISCELLANY. 



SCHOLASTIC LITERATURE. 



THE CHANGES OF TIME. 

BY J. W. GANT. 

It has been a custom, from time immemorial, 
that teachers and students manifest an interest in 
the cause in which they are engaged at the close 
of a session of school. In compliance with this 
time-honored custom, I come before you this even- 
ing. 

Time is divided into three periods — present, 
past, and future. All the time that ever was, is, 
or ever will be, belongs to these three periods. 
Time is ever changing. The future becomes the 
present, the present sinks into the past, the past 
becomes more distant still. 

Let us turn our attention briefly to the consider- 
ation of the past. Ask of History the many and 
mighty changes that she has chronicled. From 
her ample pages much may be learned. The first 
great change to which she invites our attention is 
the downfall of man. Man was created holy and 



522 Scholastic Literature. 

upright. As the inhabitant of a newly-created 
world, he rejoiced. With delight he beheld the 
stars in the morning of creation ; with admiration 
he saw the sun in newness with grandeur rise ; 
with amazement he surveyed the pale-face moon, 
the luminary of night. His home was the most 
delightful spot ever known to man. But in an 
evil hour the tempter came. Man forfeited all 
and lost all. A guard of angels was stationed 
around the tree of life. The decree went forth — 
" Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." 
Thus the destiny of a world was changed. Two 
thousand years pass away, the changes of which 
for the present will not be noticed, and we behold 
the windows of heaven opened, the earth is buried 
in water; Noah, trusting in an omnipotent God, 
defies the surging billows. Thus passed away the 
antediluvian world, and God placed his bow in the 
heavens as a token that he would never again de- 
stroy the world by water. 

Partially leaving the sacred page, where are the 
four great nations that aspired to universal do- 
minion — Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome? 
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, as she has been 
styled in history, surpassed all other kingdoms in 
her day. The palace erected by Nebuchadnezzar 
was said to have been six miles in circumference. 
It was surrounded by three walls ; three brazen 
.gates gave entrance to it from the city. It was 



The Changes of Time. 523 

hung with beautiful statues of gold and silver. Its 
hanging gardens were even reckoned by the Greeks 
as one of the wonders of the world. An artificial 
range of mountains was erected by the king to 
meet the longing desires of his wife for the moun- 
tain scenery of her own Ecbatana. Upon this 
mountain range grew the loftiest trees, forming a 
noble scenery. Water from the Euphrates was 
drawn up by means of machinery to irrigate the 
soil. Thus stood Babylon when her mighty king, 
walking into his palace and viewing the greatness 
of his possessions, said : " Is not this great Baby- 
lon, which was built by my power and for my 
majesty?" 

But Babylon was not destined long to retain 
that splendor to which she had reached. Her re- 
maining history may be recorded in one brief sen- 
tence : She was, but is no more. 

Where is Persia? She, too, once was power- 
ful. The governments of the Medes and Persians 
were united under the same authority. Cyrus 
was its founder. He has been regarded by Bollin, 
and not without reason, as the wisest conqueror 
and most accomplished sovereign that ever lived. 
Darius rose and flourished ; Cambyses, in his turn, 
made the earth tremble; Xerxes saw his day and 
then passed away. But a mighty change came 
over Persia, and she stands a relic of departed 
glory. 



524 Scholastic Literature. 

Greece comes next in order. No nation stands 
higher upon the musty records of the past than 
Greece ; no people has furnished history with so 
many valuable monuments and illustrious exam- 
ples. In whatever respect she is considered, 
whether for the glory of her arms, the wisdom of 
her laws, or the improvement of the arts and 
sciences, she has been the school of mankind. 
Behold Solon and Lycurgus as they stand at the 
head of ancient lawgivers. Cast your minds back 
upon Socrates as he instructs a little band of dis- 
ciples at Athens. Look upon Alexander as he 
weeps because there is not another nation to con- 
quer. Consider Demosthenes as he goes to the 
ocean and there declaims, that he may be the bet- 
ter prepared to endure the noise and clamor of the 
people. View him upon the stage as he moves a 
world by his eloquence, and then listen to the 
mournful strains of the bard as he sings : 

" The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece, 
Where Sappho lived and sung, 
Where lived the arts of war and peace, 

Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung ; 
Eternal summer gilds them yet, 
But all except their sun is set." 

Greece, with her mighty warriors, statesmen, 
and poets, is numbered with things that were ; and 
that small bit of island in the old world that bears 



The Changes of Time. 525 

the name, only serves as a monument to mark one 
of the greatest changes of the past. 

Rome next demands our attention. There is 
much in Roman history to admire. The patriot 
cannot fail to admire the disinterested patriotism 
of Cincinnatus, and that love of country that burnt 
in the heart of Regulus. Who can fail to appreciate 
the eloquence of Cicero, who won from the Roman 
people the title of "father of his country/' and 
from the world the prince of orators ? Mankind 
must ever respect the mercy and generalship of 
Caesar. Under his "generalship Rome was made 
the mistress of the world. But at length came 
the death of Caesar, the decline, and finally the 
overthrow, of the Roman government ; and it can 
only be said of Rome that her ruins mark her 
resting-place. 

These great changes of the past present one 
continual scene of bloodshed, one continual scene 
of rising kingdoms and falling thrones. When 
properly considered, they teach us an important 
lesson. They teach us that all the laws, institu- 
tions, and governments of man are like their au- 
thors — they bear the marks of ignorance upon 
them. It is true that those who have preceded 
us possessed virtues; but they possessed vices 
also. While we should strive to emulate the one, 
let us endeavor to shun the other. Let the scholar 
avoid all the superstitious ideas of the ancients, 



526 Scholastic Literature. 

but let him avail himself of all their wisdom. 
Let the philanthropist know that while the Grecian 
and Roman were willing to die for Greece and 
Rome, that they were actuated by nothing but a 
selfish patriotism ; while they loved their respect- 
ive countries, they cared for nothing else. Their 
ideas were as selfish as their imaginary gods at 
whose shrine they bowed. Let us remember that 
our love of mankind should not be hemmed in by 
state nor national lines, but should embrace the 
whole world. 

We have no control over the past — it is an un- 
changeable book; like any other, it is to be studied 
that it may be learned. Let us learn from its 
ample pages, and start anew on the road to honor 
and usefumess, imbibing the sentiments of the 
poet: 

" Lives of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime, 
And, departing, leave behind us 

Foot-prints on the sands of time — 
Foot-prints that perhaps another, 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 

Seeing, shall take heart again. 
Let us, then, be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labor and to wait." 



Temperance. 527 



TEMPERANCE. 

America is free! How that joyful sound once 
thrilled the land! America is free! The last 
link in the tyrant's chain is broken! No doubt 
those brave old soldiers, who had so nobly fought 
for freedom, wept for joy as they thought of the 
happy fate of future generations, while they 
thanked Heaven their labors had not been in 
vain. 

Yes, ours is a happy country. All that will, can 
be free. But do we ever reflect that, in this land 
of liberty, there are thousands bowing down to a 
tyrant whose sway over his subjects is the most 
unlimited, whose influence is the most demoral- 
izing, and who, instead of honoring those who are 
most devoted to him, sinks them into that low 
abyss of misery from which few return? Not- 
withstanding many are loyal to him to the last, 
and die in his service, yet over no one's grave is 
placed a splendid monument, to recount to admir- 
ing eyes his heroic deeds. Ah! no: in some re- 
mote corner his remains are buried, and he for- 
gotten; or perhaps one sad mourner, whose fate 



528 Scholastic Literature. 

with his for life was linked, may linger there to 
bewail his unhappy fall. 

This cruel tyrant, though, when seen in his 
natural form, is hideous to behold, is nevertheless 
capable of assuming almost the appearance of an 
angel of light; visiting the social circle, he seems 
to diffuse an unwonted cheerfulness on all around. 
'Tis thus, by cunning and flattery, he draws to- 
ward him these unhappy victims, who, when once 
within his power, seldom extricate themselves 
from his iron grasp. Our hearts bleed when we 
see the young and gifted, who might be ornaments 
to society, going on with their eyes closed to all 
danger, and, like that gay young party who, heed- 
less of the prayers and entreaties of their friends, 
rush into the bosom of the mighty maelstrom, 
callous to every warning word. 

"My little son!" and that fond parent's heart 
swells with emotion as he utters those endearing 
words; " yes, he'll be a man — I'm sure he will. 
See with what eagerness he pursues his studies, 
while from day to day I can perceive his growing 
intellect!" And now bright visions of the future 
rise before that father's mind. He sees his boy 
grown to manhood, loved and admired by all who 
know him. The good and the wise ever welcome 
him with smiles, as one whose merits they can 
well appreciate. "He'll be my joy and comfort 
through life, and smooth my pathway to the 



Temperance. 529 

tomb!" And will those fond anticipations never 
be realized? Will that loving father be doomed 
to see his son, the idol of his soul, treading the 
broad path to ruin, regardless of the prayers and 
admonitions of his parents and friends ? But who 
can depict the agony of that mother, who has 
watched over him with so much anxious solici- 
tude, as with stoical indifference he turns from 
her tearful entreaties? No tender sentiment seems 
to reach his heart of stone. If there be tears in 
heaven, they must be shed over such a scene as 
this. 

I saw a fair young bride, with a glad, smiling 
face, and as she leaned upon the strong arm of 
him who had vowed to love and protect her 
through life, she wore a look of happy content, 
which seemed to say: "My life will be one of 
light and sunshine!" As I gazed on her lovely 
features, and caught the glances of her joy-beam- 
ing eyes, Surely, thought I, her life will be one 
bright summer day. "A change came o'er the 
spirit of my dream." Weeping, solitary, and alone, 
I saw that fair young bride. The light had flown 
from her eyes, the smiles from her face, and the 
world seemed a dreary place to her. Her morn- 
ing sun had set at noon. I could not stay to 
hear her tale of woe, but how chilling were these 
words : "He upon whom I relied with so much love 

and confidence has become a poor, abject, degraded 
23 



530 Scholastic Literature. 

drunkard ! " I turned away with a saddened heart. 
How long, thought I, will it be ere the people be- 
come awakened to their best interests ? Are there 
not talent and goodness enough in this land to 
drive this evil — intemperance — from its bounds ? 

We are happy to see that many are now taking 
a firm stand to combat this powerful enemy. Let 
us continue with unwearied patience to persevere. 
Heaven will smile upon our labor ; and should we 
at last gain the victory, brighter crowns will be 
ours than ever decked a monarch's brow. 



Pride. 531 



PRIDE. 

There is no affection of the human mind so 
much blended in human nature, and wrought into 
our very constitution, as pride. It appears under 
multitudes of disguises, and breaks out in ten 
thousand different symptoms. Every one feels it 
in himself, and yet wonders to see it in his neigh- 
bors. The same pride which makes a man haughty 
and insulting toward his inferiors, forces him to 
crouch seriously before his superiors. Nothing is 
more manifest than that there is a certain equal- 
ity to which all men have a natural right, unless 
it be their meanness to give up. Man is a sinful, 
an ignorant, and a miserable being; and these very 
reasons why he should not be proud are, notwith- 
standing, the reasons why he is so. Were not he 
a sinful creature, he would not be subject to a 
passion which rises from the deep depravity of 
his nature; were he not an ignorant creature, he 
would see that he has nothing to be proud of; 
and were not the whole species miserable, he 
would not have those wretched objects of com- 
parison before his eyes which stimulate the occa- 



532 Scholastic Literature. 

sion of his passion, and which make one man 
value himself more than another. 

Of all human actions, pride is least likely to 
obtain its end; for, aiming at honor and reputa- 
tion, it generally reaps contempt and derision. 
Some people are all quality; you would think 
they are made up of nothing but titles and nobili- 
ties; the stamp of dignity defaces in them the 
very character of humanity, and transports them 
to such a degree of haughtiness that they reckon 
it below them to exercise either good nature or 
good manners. It is the insolence natural to 
pride which prompts many of the wealthy to 
affix, as much as in them lies, the standard and 
character of a man by his wealth. Take away 
from them their pride and boasting, and there will 
be no difference between a poor and a rich man. 
Pride and ill-nature will be hated, in spite of all 
the wealth and pompous greatness in the world; 
but civility and amiability are always acceptable 
and safe. 

To be proud of knowledge is to be blind in the 
light; to be proud of good qualities is to poison 
yourself with the antidote; to be proud of au- 
thority and influence is to make your rise your 
downfall. If a vain or proud man makes you 
keep your distance, your comfort is, he keeps his 
at the same time; and the best way to humble 
the proud man is to take no notice of him. 



Virtue. 533 



VIRTUE. 

Amid all the excellent qualities that raise man 
above the brute creation, none stand preeminent 
to virtue. This principle assimilates him more 
closely to the primeval perfections which he pos- 
sessed while in terrestrial Eden, probably than 
any thing else in the wide world. It raises him 
higher in the scale of being, gives him loftier con- 
ceptions of light and immortality beyond the 
grave, than almost any thing else of which we can 
conceive. Then it is in very deed the ground- 
work upon which every youth of the rising gen- 
eration should strive to build his character; and 
having accomplished this, he can then stand, like 
a ship cabled in a safe harbor, unmolested by the 
storms of adversity and the scenes of discord. 
To make a comparison, he will form a marble ad- 
amant, at which the fiery darts of the Wicked 
One may be hurled in vain; all the alluring scenes 
of sin and vice will pass before his eyes like the 
evanescent beam across the horizon when a tran- 
sient meteor falls. Farther, there is more real 
and genuine satisfaction in the practice of virtue 



534 Scholastic Literature. 

than any other one thing. Wherever you see 
men and women living virtuous, and trying to 
obey the commands and dictates of the divine 
law, you are sure to see happy and prosperous 
people. Then is it not passingly strange to see 
so many millions of the human family leaving the 
golden fields and pleasant walks of virtue, and 
straying off in the forbidden paths of sin and 
guilt, and thereby bringing on themselves destruc- 
tion and misery? All the woe and misery con- 
comitant to our world are the effects of a non- 
adherence to morality and virtue. Behold the 
downward and distressing course of that man who 
lays aside all principles of morality and virtue, 
and goes headlong, like the wild beast, into all 
the devices of which his evil heart can imagine! 
Is his not a tiresome and distressing life, who is 
daily maddened by the ingredients of the intoxi- 
cating bowl? Are not the holiest aspirations and 
fondest desires of his very soul blighted and cut 
down in their bloom by the inebriation and sui- 
cidal acts of his own hand? This is the effect of 
immorality, or opposition to virtue. The effect is 
very visible wherever it exists. When we visit 
our courts and jails, we can there see the effect 
of immorality; we there see the vile and rebel- 
lious of our country brought before the bar of 
justice for their wicked and perverse deeds. And 
then to see our penitentiaries filled with convicts 



Virtue. 535 

from various parts of the country is another strik- 
ing illustration of immorality and vice. 

Then, as these are the effects of immorality, 
how all-important it is that the youth should be 
taught to practice virtue in the early period of 
his life, so as he may be enabled to shun all the 
noxious and dreadful places to which sin and vice 
will inevitably lead him! It is absolutely neces- 
sary that we all should be instructed in the ways 
of virtue, and taught to walk in the paths of 
moral rectitude, which always lead to peace, hap- 
piness, and quietude of life, and finally to heaven 
and God. 



536 Scholastic Literature. 



TRUE GREATNESS. 

In looking over the history of the past, we find 
on every page, marked in legible characters, traces 
of the ever-onward march of true greatness. Dis- 
guise it as we will, it is one of the most impor- 
tant subjects that stand on the pages of history. 
This theme seems to present itself in the negative 
as well as positive consideration. First. It does 
not consist in the amassment of the world's treas- 
ure, nor in the empty sound of fame. Second. It 
consists not in the beauty of the person, nor in 
the decoration of this human coil. Third. It con- 
sists not in the display of acquired abilities, nor 
in the attainment of intelligence without purity of 
heart, and integrity of purpose, in the prosecution 
of good and praiseworthy enterprises. Fourth, 
and finally. It does not consist in the high rank 
that some may seem to occupy ; but then in what 
does it consist? First. In an honest and upright 
heart, one whose tablets have been written upon 
by the angels of compassion. Second. It consists 
in the exhibition of all the noble and generous 
dispositions implanted in the human heart by our 



True Greatness. 537 

Creator, and that, too, when mercy demands. 
Third. True greatness presents all the noble at- 
tainments in their most brilliant colors, and calls 
into action all the genuine traits of morals. 
Fourth. In a word, for a person to be truly great, 
he must be the embodiment of the communicable 
attributes of our Creator. Let us, in the language 
of the poet, say, 

" Let foolish men argue all they can, 
Yet it is principle that makes the truly great man." 

If true greatness be considered and acted upon, 
as it ought to be, among the intelligent that 
people our globe, injustice and opposition would 
no longer walk triumphant through the world. 
The world would be transformed into an abode 
of honesty and peace, and Eden would again ap- 
pear in all its beauty and delight. The eagle of 
justice would take up her flight and fly to every 
nook and corner of the inhabited earth. Then no 
longer would you see the promising youth lay 
down literature and cultivate a love for human 
fame, and thereby be changed from the noblest 
employment of man to that of selfishness and 
misery to himself, and act a part in the great 
drama of crushing the liberty of the world and 
planting despotism in its stead. If people would 
act upon the principles of true greatness as they 

ought, if all persons who desire to place their 
23* 



538 Scholastic Literature. 

names upon the golden pages of history would re- 
sort to honorable means to engrave them there, no 
longer would you see the orator employing his 
eloquence, causing his auditors to burn with rest- 
less emulation at the names and deeds of military 
chieftains and warriors, whose hands have been 
stained in the blood that gushes from bleeding na- 
tions ; but you would see him paint the principles 
of true greatness in glowing eloquence, as bright 
as the celestial orb of da}^, and every stripe of 
despotism that has a place upon the flags of the 
world be erased, and the proud banners of freedom 
would be flung to the breeze. If we turn to con- 
template the material world, we perceive that the 
gigantic oak of the forest germinated from a little 
acorn; the huge and towering rocks were formed 
by the addition of particles, through the instru- 
mentality of cohesive attraction. Thus we are 
led to the conclusion that motion or progress is 
stamped on all created things. Geological inves- 
tigations, so far as they have been extended, prove 
that the world was millions of ages forming before 
it became a fit dwelling-place for man. What a 
blessing it would have been if man, through his 
earlier days, could only have seen the path that 
would have directed him to usefulness and pros- 
perity — yes, to eminence! How many whose 
names might be green in the memory of the world, 
when their bodies have been long in the dust, go 



True Greatness. 539 

down to posterity unwept and unsung! Then look 
upon their useful days as having been allotted ex- 
pressely for sportive joys and mirthful pleasures. 
The lad, as he trudges along his school -path, 
seeks for objects to amuse himself; the chatterings 
of the forest songsters furnish his ear with har- 
monious sounds ; though his juvenile years soon 
glide away, and all his boyish pleasures are aban- 
doned, still strong memory shall write those youth- 
ful scenes on his heart when he has grown old and 
weary. 

Then, my fellow-students, if we desire to be 
truly great, we must let early piety be deeply im- 
planted in our hearts ; for when we cast our eyes 
around us, we can conceive of no greater man than 
the pious and good man. A man may attain to a 
high standard of military glory, yea, he may ac- 
quire great celebrity in most any of the various 
professions of the day, but none are so truly great 
as the man whose devotional ambition is directed 
into channels that tend to better the condition of 
his fellow-man. Then let us stand to our duties 
in reference to moral integrity, and when old age 
comes upon us, we will have moral character to 
rely upon, and we will have formed our reputation 
upon the great principles of true greatness, and 
although our bodies may go down to the vault of 
the tomb, yet our names will be thought of and 
forever remembered by rising generations of earth. 



540 Scholastic Literature. 



THE AVENGER. 

There needs no extended argument to prove 
that deeds done in the flesh must needs be pun- 
ished in the spirit during eternity. That hollow, 
broken-hearted voice which escapes some midnight- 
murdered Christian, has pierced the heavens, and 
long after its echo has ceased upon the earth, 
there conies a sound of woe which awakes the 
slumbering spirit of justice, and a crime done, 
when the house heard not the dying shriek, is fully 
avenged. If justice and mercy, which are the 
habitation of the eternal throne, had no other ad- 
vocate on earth — if the sacred chronicles had been 
forever silent, and no ray of moral light divine 
had ever flashed across the gulf of endless night, 
a casual survey of the annals of time must surely 
convince man that injustice, fraud, murder, and 
theft have no continual home beneath the vault 
of the sky. In very truth, the man of blood has 
only to turn his gaze upon the trembling, horror- 
stricken soul within him, and learn therefrom a 
lesson terrible in its certainty. " The way of the 
transgressor is hard." Cain felt all the remorse 



The Avenger. 541 

of hell in his heart when his brother's blood lifted 
its pleading voice against him from the ground, 
and well may he cry in anguish, of which only 
the murderer can ever know, My punishment is 
more than I can bear ; for the very innocence and 
meekness of his brother's dying look becomes poi- 
soned arrows to rankle forever in his miserable, 
sin-cursed heart ; the very light of his Maker's 
countenance becomes intolerable to his gaze, and 
he cries aloud for help against the torturing furies 
which are holding their saturnalia in his soul. 
Roman emperors may feast and revel in the fierce- 
ness of their impotent wrath, while the wild beasts 
tear the hearts from their praying victims; but sure 
as truth itself, there comes a day when the gnaw- 
ing of worms at the heart's core proves to be these 
bloody monsters; that justice, though often slow, 
is ever sure. Brutus may warm his dagger in the 
great heart of Caesar ; still, the avenger hovers 
around his path, and whispers, in accents which 
pierce to the heart: "We shall meet at Philippi." 
Silently, surely, and unalterably comes the dart, 
and the noble Brutus pays the penalty of the ides 
of March. 

You need not tell me of the pleasures of sin ; 
tell me not that the paths of vice are wreathed 
with flowers and robed in purple ; whisper not to 
my mind that the avenger of innocence slumbers, 
and that Cerberus no longer guards the gate, for 



542 Scholastic Literature. 

the faithful annals of the past point me to the 
tyrant's sword, hanging by a single hair above the 
head of guilt; ay, more, I see that sword — two- 
edged, and wielded by an arm of unseen power — 
severing the gauzy veil which hangs over the 
heart, and I hear the cry of mortal agony rise, 
until the whole heart is faint. No ! no ! tell 
me not that he who now lies beneath the over- 
arching limbs of that giant oak, by the clear 
waters of that little stream, the victim of a cold- 
blooded, cowardly, murderous fiend, will not some 
day be fully avenged, and that, too, in a way that 
he w T ho fired the shot which stilled that noble hand 
forever, will wildly wish that he had never been. 
The Avenger is on his track; the index of the 
dial of eternity is not more certain than that the 
crashing bolt will fall, when the fullness of time 
shall come. Swifter far than the Alpine avalanche, 
fleeter than the deer upon the mountain, or the 
lightning as it sweeps from the summer cloud, is 
the Nemesis of destruction on the track of blood. 
Nor need the thief and robber exult in their 
short-lived day and unhallowed vocation. Plun- 
der the helpless and insult the innocent, you may 
for a time hold high carnival, and stalk in fine 
linen, while the tears and entreaties of the good 
and upright are lifted to you in vain supplications. 
But there comes a day — ay, that day is now fast 
bursting upon the sight — when such cursed worms 



The Avenger. 543 

shall be crushed beneath the heel of honest men, 
and their very memories forgotten among the liv- 
ing. The day of wrath will certainly come to the 
evil-doer. Well and truly did that man say who 
wrote : " Let society exist forever, smitten by the 
leprosy of hatred to God, and with utter selfish- 
ness as its all-pervading and eternal purpose; 
then, as sure as the law of righteousness exists, 
on which rests the throne of God and the govern- 
ment of the universe, a society so constituted 
must work out for itself a hell of solitary and 
bitter suffering, to which there is no limit, except 
the capacity of a finite nature." 

Let no living mortal solace himself with the re- 
flection that his sin will not find him out. The 
murderer can never sleep in peace, for his soul is 
conscious of its guilt, and fain would hide in eter- 
nal night, but even there it will find no rest. Let 
the guilty suffer on, but let the innocent look, and 
tremble, and fear to attempt the paths vice opens 
up to his vision. Justice is fixed and forever cer- 
tain, for her avenging angel is poised on steady 
wing above the great throne in the clouds, and only 
awaits the signal to dart away on her track of 
blood. 



544 Scholastic Literature, 



THE DEMANDS OF THE PRESENT AGE. 

BY JAMES M. JORDAN. (1861.) 

I have presented myself before you, this even- 
ing, to endeavor to make you a very brief talk 
on a subject that is worthy of the time, talent, 
and energy of every individual who has ever been 
so fortunate as to have lived under the stars and 
stripes of an American banner; though I must 
confess that I feel very much embarrassed to as- 
sume the attitude I now do. 

A question arises in my mind : Shall I, while 
yet in the days of my youth, who have just en- 
tered the vestibule, present myself before an aged 
and experienced community, to become the ex- 
pounder of the duties of this important age, and 
in these perilous times? But when I contemplate 
the grandeur and sublimity of my theme, a voice 
seems to fall with deep and ponderous weight upon 
my heart, that says: Come forth, ye small and 
great, and contribute liberally of whatever might 
you possess. This is a subject, a proper investi- 
gation of which is enough to send a thrill to every 



The Demands of the Present Age. 545 

soul, and cause every heart to throb with the deep- 
est emotion. It is enough to call forth the might 
and energy of all upon the important drama of 
life, to assume a bold and steadfast attitude, to 
ward off the evils of the day, and promote the 
peace, harmony, and prosperity of our land and 
country. And in order that we duly appreciate 
the weight of our responsibilities, we must notice 
at least a few sacrifices which have been made in 
the setting forth of the inestimable privileges of 
our land. We will notice, therefore, the firm, im- 
movable rock upon which the hope and redemp- 
tion of a lost and sinful world was reared. 

Though I shall by no means assume the task 
of displaying to your minds in true colors a pic- 
ture of Christian martyrdom, and were I to make 
such an attempt, language would fail, time and 
opportunity would be wanting. But to make an 
aggregate of this kind, we must paint on our minds 
images of death — and that, too, of the most horrid 
kind. We must behold the pure and undefiled 
forms of Christianity gibbeted upon the rack of 
death, reeking with innocent blood, and hearken to 
the last appeals of a dying father, while the agony 
of death is seated on his brow. We must hear 
the soul - dissolving entreaties of that vigilant 
mother whose bosom has protected us from ten 
thousand snares, and generous brother whose ex- 
amples were noble and wise — his counsels w 7 ere 



546 Scholastic Literature. 

imparted to us freely and abundantly; that noble- 
hearted and affectionate sister, whose willing hands 
were ever ready to help, and whose gentle words, 
like a healing balm to a wound, were ever em- 
ployed to dispel the dark clouds of gloom and 
despair, and restore peace and quietude to the 
troubled in mind. And then, to complete all these 
horrible pictures, we must feast our eyes upon 
the bright form of Jesus Christ reared upon the 
cross to breathe out his mortal life — the only 
child of heaven — a bright star, plucked, as it 
were, from the blue vault of heaven, and exhib- 
ited to the gaze of the world upon a rude column, 
adorned with the bloody and mangled bodies of 
thieves, and surrounded by hellish fiends. 

But, to be brief, I must hasten to scenes of a 
more recent date — yes, to the ever -memorable 
period of '76, the very name of which is enough 
to cause every philanthropic heart to shudder, and 
call for counsel to aid the dispatch of our impor- 
tant duties, from the bourn of those philanthropic 
spirits whose dear ashes lie in quiet repose in 
the dust purchased by their own blood! Can 
the most sublime imagination of fancy paint the 
scene? What an awful sensation would be pro- 
duced in every heart, could we but reduce it to a 
reality, and see the thirteen feeble colonies of our 
government suspended by a slender cord ; yea, 
when her lamentable destinv was wafted on the 



The Demands of the Present Age. 547 

breeze of a single breath; while dark clouds of 
anarchy madly curled over her head, charged with 
incessant showers of despotism, whose lightning 
was the gleam of the dripping sword, whose thun- 
der the dismal hiss of the cannon's boom, mingled 
with the harsh mutters of the British lion; could 
we but see the two powers drawn up in battle- 
array, listen to the animating tones of martial 
music, and behold them rush together, like two 
maddened tempests that stir up the sea, overturn 
cities, uproot forests, and carry general destruc- 
tion in their mad career, then we could but draw 
a faint idea of the cost of the blessings we enjoy. 
Could we but stand aloof upon some high place 
where we could overlook the landscape, and see 
our towns and cities reduced to smoking ruins, and 
hear the shrieks of orphans and widowed mothers 
as they fall under the merciless tomahawk, then we 
could form some conception of the adverseness of 
the circumstances under which our ancestors had 
to labor in rearing a stupendous fabric in which 
we ought to reside in safety. This is but a very 
brief survey of the pedestal upon which our glory 
was reared — only a few causes, the prolific effects 
of which we are the happy recipients. 



548 Scholastic Literature, 



PATRICK HENRY. 

Among the distinguished patriots of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, the name of Patrick Henry will 
never be forgotten, and never refused a tribute of 
respect in the annals of History. He was in the 
maturity of his powers when the Declaration of 
Independence was made by the colonies, and he 
had a full share of influence in bringing about 
that momentous event. He was among the most 
impassioned and effective of American orators, in 
a time fruitful of great men. He held the high- 
est posts of honor that Virginia (his native State) 
could bestow upon him. He also held extremely 
responsible positions in the colonies, and he ef- 
fected all by the indomitable energy and manli- 
ness of his own steadfastness and fixed purpose 
of his own mind. 

Patrick Henry was of Scotch descent, born 
May 26, 1736, and at the time of the Declaration 
of Independence he was about forty years old. 
The subject of this sketch was, in his youth, dull 
of apprehension, and he loved to fish and hunt in 
preference to attending school, and most always 



Patrick Henry. 549 

would engage in these amusements in solitude; 
rather lie on the shore of the rippling stream, and 
play with the fish in their shoaling gambols, than 
to enjoy the mirthful sports of his companions ; 
rather take his stand on some lonely peak of the 
bleak mountain, to shoot the passing deer, than to 
take the circuit with the sportive hunters. It is 
true he loved sport, but he loved to have his fun 
to himself. Patrick Henry in his early youth had 
no great commanding traits pointing him out as 
some great one. He was homely in features, gen- 
erally awkward in appearance, and rather sloven 
in his dress. But one great fact must not be for- 
gotten here, and it is this : all minds do not de- 
velop themselves in the same period of time; 
While some minds are grasping after knowledge 
in early years, and by and by lose their vigor and 
soon wear down, others, not so promising at the 
start, but finally, by continued perseverance, be- 
come the beacon-lights of the age in which they 
live. Such was Patrick Henry. In several of his 
first undertakings he failed in business. Married 
at eighteen, and just a little after he was twenty- 
one, having failed in pecuniary matters, he took 
up the study of law; but here he seemed to want 
confidence in himself for awhile, but by and by he 
became a perfect terror to his opponents at the 
bar, although he had only read the law-books six 
weeks before he was admitted to the bar. During 



550 Scholastic Literature. 

the time he was studying the law, and for a period 
of some three or four years after he was admitted 
to practice, his family lived hard, and scarcely 
had the absolute necessaries of life ; but, as in 
the lives of many great men, his fortune now 
takes a change. He triumphantly distinguished 
himself as an orator in his speech in favor of the 
tobacco planters against the clergy of the Estab- 
lished Church, as then existing in the original col- 
onies. There never was kept a record of this 
famous speech, but it was heard by such a vast 
assembly, and was so unanimously approbated, 
that it became proverbial; for after this, any one 
speaking oratorically, it was said: "He is almost 
equal to Patrick when he spoke against the par- 
sons." One other great effort made by this elo- 
quent man was his stern opposition to the Stamp 
Act, imposed on the colonies by the mother coun- 
try. 

Mr. Henry was by no means well-skilled in the 
legal profession; but on all debates where plain 
justice and equity were on his side, he never 
failed of success. His stentorian voice, his mu- 
sical accents, and peculiar emphasis, gained for 
him great reputation in the legal profession. It 
is said of the Judge, when presiding in the courts 
where he pleaded, that whenever Patrick Henry 
arose to speak, he would lay aside his pen or pen- 
cil with which he had been taking notes, and give 



Patrick Henri/. 551 

his whole attention to him. Patrick Henry was 
more distinguished for his pleading in the criminal 
courts than in civil cases. Often, when in the 
defense of his client, he would so carry away his 
hearers as to make them shed tears; he always 
touched the sympathetic cord of their hearts. 

Permit me now to call your attention briefly to 
his career in the revolutionary struggle of 1774. 

The Continental Congress met at Philadelphia, 
and among the men sent by Virginia was George 
Washington, and by his side was Patrick Henry. 
When he once returned from Congress, he was 
asked whom he thought the greatest man on the 
floor. He said : " If you speak of eloquence, I say, 
Mr. Hutledge, of South Carolina ; but if you speak 
of solid judgment and sound information, I say, 
Colonel Washington." Patrick Henry was the first 
of men in those perilous times to advocate the 
idea of American independence, and he offered 
stronger resolutions than any others, tending to 
this result. This man was a lover of liberty at 
heart. The oppression of the mother country 
finally became so heavy that it seems but one 
sentiment pervaded the minds of the master-spirits 
of the day, and that was : We must be free from 
the galling yoke of our tyrannical mother. The 
aggrievances had now become so intolerable that 
Patrick Henry only uttered the feeling of the 
colonies, when he exclaimed: "We must fight! 



552 Scholastic Literature. 

I repeat it, sir, We must fight : an appeal to arms 
and to the God of hosts is all that is left us." 
And he it was who uttered the words : " Give me 
liberty or give me death." These expressions of 
Mr. Henry overcame all opposition to the resolu- 
tions then pending, and a committee was appointed 
forthwith, among whom were George Washington 
and Richard Henry Lee, with kindred spirits, 
wdiose blood run in unison. I might bring before 
you many other excellent things brought about by 
this wonderful man during the great struggle for 
liberty, and also many of his valuable services to 
his native State after the establishment of peace. 
Old Virginia ! The birth-place of freedom ; the 
cradle of Presidents; the battle field for indepen- 
dence ; the graveyard of heroes; the soil drenched 
with the blood of patriots. that thy name may 
be ever cherished in the hearts of freemen as long 
as time itself shall roll its ample rounds ! May 
her sons never disgrace the unmarked tombs of 
her fallen heroes ! May her fair daughters, the 
progeny of the Rutledges, the Randolphs, the 
Washingtons, the Lees, the Henrys, ever have 
hearts disposed to s-trew flowers over the graves 
of their loved ones, and cherish the fond hope that 
they will be rewarded in the world to come for all 
their toils and services for freedom's cause! 



Woman. 553 



WOMAN. 

Woman was made beautiful, and, consequently, 

a great lover of beauty. She represents the two 

prominent ideas of utility and beauty conjoined. 

The law of her Creator, who ordered that she 

should throw over the utilities of labor, and toils, 

and pains of life, the ornament of beauty and the 

blandishment of her smiles, is a standing proof of 

His wisdom. After man was created, then was 

woman created, and this last production of nature 

was his most valuable work. Wisdom takes man 

for her representative, but love and wisdom choose 

woman for their sanctuary. The true woman is 

ever careful to preserve her personal symmetry, 

grace, and beauty. She will be true to taste, 

neatness, and order. She shines most beautifully 

from her spiritual nature. Could man procure 

a relic of the olden prophets, he would preserve 

it as he does his own heart, and almost consider 

it a passport to heaven. But how little does he 

cherish and protect the very abode, the home of 

infinite love, the heart of woman ! for, alas, how 

much this fair and beautiful sex, in some respects, 
24 



554 Scholastic Literature. 

is trodden down and trampled upon like some rank 
weed! But beware, man! beware bow you 
trample upon tbe rights of woman, for she has a 
heart, not of stone, but something that will not 
bear all the repulsions of man ! For who will take 
sorrow, cruelty, and trouble more deeply than 
woman? But she has a mild, forgiving nature, 
that will forgive the most revengeful wrongs, and 
will do any thing for the happiness of those around 
her; and I am one among the many who are in 
favor of woman's rights, for did you ever see a 
female that was not ? If you did, it was one that 
was undeserving of credit; for if she had the 
power that man has, I think the whole community 
would be benefited by it. Take intemperance 
for example. Now, if woman stood on an equal 
footing with man, intemperance would be abolished 
a great deal more than it is. For who knows 
better than the mother, wife, and children of an 
intemperate man, the need of abolishing intem- 
perance? Who know better than they the curse 
of intoxicating drinks ? For it is they, alas ! that 
have to suffer from drunkenness. And every per- 
son is aware that no one has so much influence as 
mothers have over their children ; and if the women 
always had the management of their children, 
there would not be as many intemperate men in 
the world as there are; and this will prove that 
woman ought to be on an equality with man. 



Woman. 555 

Now a question for those who are not in favor of 
woman's rights : Where was woman taken from ? 
Was she taken from his feet? No. She was taken 
from his side ; she was made to be his equal in 
every thing. She was not made to be inferior or 
superior to him; but she was made to stand side 
by side with man. Let her share with him his 
pleasures, and also let her share his sorrows. And 
this is what a true woman will willingly do : she 
will strive to make his home happy; she will 
strive to do all in her power to make every thing 
pleasant and agreeable to him; she will take his 
hand and travel through life's journey with him, 
cheering him, in time of despondency, with her 
smiles and cheerful heart; she will watch over 
him in sickness with the tenderest affection. The 
virtuous woman regards all as innocent and friend- 
ly, the whole world as a vast community of broth- 
ers and sisters, where friendship, confidence, ten- 
derness, affection, and virtue dwell, all made har- 
monious by their indwelling spirits. The spirit 
of unlimited confidence, together with the entire 
circle of these graces, only live in her heart. 



556 Scholastic Literature. 



HAPPINESS. 

Real success in life is happiness, and the great 
secret to happiness is content. It is the philoso- 
pher's stone of existence, and should be sought 
after as the alchemists of old searched after their 
darling idol. True happiness is no El Dorado 
never to he found, but is a sure empire, rich in all 
that desire can want, or that the young student 
could wish, and is attainable by all. It is the gush- 
ing fountain, standing a little above the common 
level, showering blessings on those gathering — the 
rich, the poor, the high and low. Wisdom and 
wealth, honor and fame, are but bubbles without it. 
True, there are various dispositions: all tempera- 
ments are not alike— some are more conducive to 
happiness than others. But defects in nature can 
be conquered, and by early training and proper effort 
the whole character be changed. Let us view for a 
time some persons as we have often seen them, 
who are forever wearied at this, or fretted at that, 
who, like a celebrated character, were ever grum- 
bling out their "lone, lone" condition; who, ac- 
cording to their own account, were the most miser- 



Happiness. 557 

able beings in the world, and we are never disposed 
to disagree with them. They were certainly mis- 
erable, though without cause, other than them- 
selves. They were unfortunate without well 
knowing why, and are left without any excuse for 
the malady. On the other hand, view that old 
man, where life had been a checkered one, where 
days had been darkened by clouds of adversity, 
where lips had drunk deep of the cup of misfor- 
tune and disappointment, yet he has made him- 
self a happy man. He had taught himself to 
battle with care and the ill-winds that blew, and 
by perseverance had conquered. The struggle was 
a severe one, the contest of the passions was a 
strife of determined force, but that old man came 
out conqueror, his white locks streaming back and 
displaying victory in the mild benevolence, the 
serene smile of happiness, and the gentle cheer- 
fulness that beamed on his wrinkled visage. Glori- 
ous old man! Hero to the last! He is seeking 
a brighter and more pleasant home beyond the 
skies. Well-merited, and without limitation, will 
be the rich reward of his piety. 

My schoolmates, let us be careful to improve 
every golden opportunity, and train our disposition 
to true happiness ; and as we behold that emblem- 
atic flag, with the inscription of education, un- 
furled to the gentle breeze, may we all act well 
our part in youth, and thus be prepared for the 



558 Scholastic Literature. 

destiny of mature life, and be sure we have true 
happiness for our companion in life, and in the 
words of the dramatist remember: " 'Tis better to 
be lowly born, and range with humble livers in 
content, than to be perked up in a glittering grief, 
and wear a golden sorrow." 



Reputation. 559 



REPUTATION. 

Who shall estimate the cost of a priceless repu- 
tation, that impress which gives the human dross 
its currency, without which we stand despised, de- 
based, depreciated? Who shall repair it injured ? 
Who shall redeem it lost? well and truly 
does the great philosopher of poetry esteem the 
world's wealth as trash in the comparison ! With- 
out it, gold has no value, birth no distinction, sta- 
tion no dignity, beauty no charm, age no reverence ; 
or should I not rather say, without it, every treas- 
ure impoverishes, every grace deforms, every dig- 
nity degrades, and all the arts, the decorations, and 
accomplishments of life, stand like the beacon-blaze 
upon a rock, warning the whole world that its ap- 
proach is clanger, that its contact is death. The 
wretch without it, is under eternal quarantine ; no 
friend to greet, no home to harbor him. The voy- 
age of his life becomes a joyless peril, and in the 
midst of all ambition can achieve, or avarice amass, 
or rapacity plunder, he tosses on the surge a buoy- 
ant pestilence. 

But let me not degrade into the selfishness of 



560 Scholastic Literature. 

individual safety, or individual exposure, this uni- 
versal principle ; it testifies to a higher, a more en- 
nobling origin. It is this which consecrates the 
humble circle of the heart; will at all times ex- 
tend itself to the circumference of the horizon; 
which nerves the arm of the patriot to save his 
country; which lights the lamp of the philosopher 
to amend man; which, if it does not inspire, will 
yet invigorate the martyr to merit immortality; 
which, when the world's agony is passed and the 
glory of another is dawning, will prompt the 
prophet, even in his chariot of fire and in his 
vision of heaven, to bequeath to mankind the 
mantle of his memory. .0 divine! delightful 
legacy of a spotless reputation ! Rich is the in- 
heritance it leaves, pious the example it testifies ; 
pure, precious, and imperishable the hoj)e which it 
inspires. Can you conceive a more atrocious in- 
jury than to filch from its possessor this inesti- 
mable benefit, to rob society of its charm, and soli- 
tude of its solace? not only to outlaw life, but to 
attain death, converting the very grave, the refuge 
of the sufferer, into the gale of infamy and of 
shame ? I conceive few crimes beyond it. He 
who plunders my property takes from me that 
which can be repaired by time ; but what period 
can repair a ruined reputation? He who maims 
my person affects that which medicine may rem- 
edy; but what herb has sovereignty over the 



Reputation* 561 

wound of slander ? He who ridicules my poverty 
or reproaches my profession upbraids me with 
that which industry may retrieve and integrity 
may purify; but what riches shall redeem the 
bankrupt fame? What power shall balance the 
sullied snow of character? Can there be an injury 
more deadly ? Can there be a crime more cruel ? 
It is without remedy. It is without antidote. It 
is without evasion. The reptile kind of calumny 
is ever on the watch. From the fascination of its 
eye no activity can escape ; from the venom of 
its fang no sanity can recover. It has no enjoy- 
ment but crime ; it has no prey but virtue ; it has 
no interval from the restlessness of its malice save 
when blasted with its victims ; it grovels to dis- 
gorge them at the withered shrine, where envy 
idolizes her own infirmities. 
24* 



562 Scholastic Literature. 



KINDNESS. 

As the quiet streamlet that runs along the valley 
nourishes a luxuriant vegetation, causing flowers 
to bloom and birds to sing along its banks, so do 
a kind look and a happy countenance spread peace 
and joy all around. Kindness is an ennobling 
sentiment. It sits upon the heart as dew upon 
the flower. It is as a morning prayer, an evening 
hymn, a dream of heaven. We look on this senti- 
ment in a child as we look upon an orchard that 
is. resplendent with early blossoms; nor do the 
happy songs and rich odors of the one steal more 
gratefully over our senses than do the hopes and 
promises of the other. In the day-dawn of life, 
joy sparkles in the young soul like dew-drops of 
the morning. The earth is then belted with the 
rainbow of promise, and all things are clothed in 
the bright and illusive colors of a young and 
luxuriant imagination. It is refreshing at such a 
time to watch the budding of a generous spirit, 
and we long to behold the maturity of such a 
flower. 



Kindness. 563 

" Fresh roses drip with sweetness there, 
And May-day smiles around." 

Kindness is the ornament of man, as it is the 
chief glory of woman. It is, indeed, woman's 
true prerogative, her scepter, and her crown ; it is 
the sword with which she conquers and the charm 
with which she captivates. What a bright halo 
does history throw around woman in her recorded 
deeds of kindness ! In the early history of Vir- 
ginia, how like a fountain in a wilderness is the 
story of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain 
Smith! 

If history tells us that woman has been in 
the rude camp or bloody battle-field, her mission 
in either place has been to soothe the troubled 
heart or bind up the gushing bosom of some dying 
friend, to alleviate the suffering or quench the 
thirst of the dying soldier. But it was left to 
the Christian religion to give beatitude to woman's 
character. The highest tribute to her sympathy 
and love, as well as the brightest examples of her 
overflowing goodness of heart, are found on the 
sacred pages. She washed the feet of the Re- 
deemer with her tears and wiped them with her 
hair. She was the last to linger around the cross 
when he was crucified, and the first at his tomb 
after he arose from the dead. She was the deep- 
est mourner at his death, and the most assiduous 
watcher at his grave. 



564 Scholastic Literature. 

Young ladies, would you be admired and be- 
loved ? Would you be an ornament to your sex 
and a blessing to your race? Then you must 
cultivate kindness as a heavenly virtue. 



Not Afraid to Die. 565 



NOT AFRAID TO DIE. 

There are some that are like what is fabled of 
the swan. The ancients said that the swan never 
sang in his life-time, but always sang just when 
he died. Now there are many of God's despond- 
ing children who seem to go all their life under a 
cloud, but they get a swan's song before they die. 
The river of their life comes running down, per- 
haps black and miry with troubles, and when it 
begins to touch the white foam of the sea, there 
comes a little glistening in its waters. Though 
we may have been very much dispirited by reason 
of the burden of the way, when we get to the end 
we shall have sweet songs. Are you afraid of 
dying? never be afraid of that! Be afraid of 
living. Living is the only thing which can do any 
mischief : dying can never hurt a Christian. Afraid 
of the grave! It is like the bath of Esther, in 
which she lay for a time to purify herself with 
spices, that she might be fit for her Lord. The 
grave fits the body for heaven. There it lieth, and 
corruption, earth, and worms do but refine and 
purify our flesh. Be not afraid of dying; it does 



566 Scholastic Literature. 

not take any time at all. All that death is, is 
emancipation, deliverance, heaven s bliss to a child 
of God. Never fear it ; it will be a singing time ! 
You are afraid of dying, you say, because of the 
pains of death. Nay, they are the pains of life 
— of life struggling to linger. Death has no pain; 
death itself is but one gentle sigh — the fetter is 
broken and the spirit fled. The best moment of 
a Christian's life is his last one, because it is the 
one that is nearest heaven; and then it is that he 
begins to strike the key-note of the song which 
he shall sing to all eternity. 



Hope, an Encouragement. 567 



HOPE, AN ENCOURAGEMENT. 

Among the many qualities with which we are 
endowed, there is none so lasting, none so pre- 
cious, none so necessary to our very existence, as 
that faculty of anticipation — of seeing, even in 
the midst of adversity, the promise of a good 
time coming, which we call hope. Without hope 
we would indeed be miserable. This world is full 
of disappointments, and our hearts (however buoy- 
ant and elastic may be our individual tempera- 
ment) could not fail to sink under its numerous 
trials and afflictions, were it not for that blessed 
angel, Hope — that rainbow in the heaven of this 
life which gives to every cloud a silver lining, and 
bids us remember that every blade of grass has 
its own drop of dew, and each buoyant heart its 
own despair, for those who despair can never suc- 
ceed. 

" O never sit we down, and say, 

There's nothing left but sorrow ! 
Keep heart ! Those who bear the cross to-day- 
Shall wear the crown to-morrow." 

In reading the history of nations, as well as of 



568 Scholastic Literature. 

individuals, this fact forcibly strikes us — namely, 
that those persons, and that people, have been 
most fortunate and happy who have been blessed 
with a buoyant and elastic temperament. Through- 
out the life of every one of us, the influence of 
hope upon our actions and our happiness depends 
in a great degree on our individual character, and 
it is in all instances marked and decided. Her 
power may be .traced through all the stages of 
our being — in the spring-time of life, when every 
throb and impulse of our nature is fresh and un- 
corrupted, and our joys have not been checked by 
that hope deferred which maketh the heart sick ; 
then it is that we most fully realize the bright- 
ness of life. Take the man who is just entering 
into the world of business, and behold how bril- 
liant every thing seems to him by anticipation ! 
Behold him as the successful merchant, whose 
vessels float on every sea, and whose name is 
known in every part of the mercantile world; 
how strange, how imposing, the influence of hope 
in his breast! Were he deprived of her offices 
and her comforts, and left alone to brave the dan- 
ger of the unsettled sea, and the daily wish of 
those adventurous barges which bear his earthly 
treasures across the trackless ocean, he might well 
sink under his fearful load of anxiety. 

And so it is all through our mortal life. Hope 
is one constant comforter; dreary would life be 



Hope, an Encouragement. 569 

without her influence. And what shall we say 
of the end? — what of that dread period which 
must one day come upon each one of us, when we 
shall stand on the brink of the unexplored and 
untried river which flows through the valley of 
the shadow of death? who can estimate the 
value of a reasonable religious hope? The con- 
summation and crown of our mysterious and pro- 
bationary existence will at last have come ; one 
of the chief and highest characteristics of which 
is, that it never wholly deserts us while life lasts, 
even in the darkest and gloomiest hours of our 
existence. Even though it should be to all ap- 
pearances hoping against hope, yet the human 
mind is unwilling to give up every thought and 
expectation of better days, and it still lingers in 
hope, though there may seem but little won for 
aught else but despair; so it is the last, long- 
lingering occupant of expectation, is loth to de- 
sert those beings among whom her lot has been 
cast; and from childhood to old age, from life to 
death, our earliest and latest friend is Hope. 
then let us indulge in a good hope ; let us guard 
and cherish this crowning memory, this celestial 
gift; let us ever hope on through disappointments, 
through sorrow, through delay, through crushing 
grief — hope from the cradle to the grave ; hope m 
purest trust, in perfect faith, till faith and hope 
are lost in sight ! 



570 Scholastic Literature. 



ABRIDGMENT OF LABOR. 

BY J. Mc . 

That domestic labor might be reduced in several 
respects, not only without injury to the welfare of 
the family, but -with positive advantage, is a pal- 
pable truth. Nor is any thing wanting to demon- 
strate this fact but suitable enterprise and courage 
on the part of those to whom the oversight of 
these matters is committed. In this peculiar pro- 
vince, ladies can introduce whatever changes they 
please. I do not intend to say that reform here 
will cost no effort, where luxury has corrupted the 
habits of a people ; it is not a small task to re- 
store a salutary simplicity. Pampered appetites 
will not be easily denied, and she must be a hero- 
ine indeed who can overcome all obstacles of the 
kind. But if the efforts were general among the 
sex ; if all women would unite in, and attempt to 
make a reasonable abridgment of, domestic toils, 
there cannot be the slightest doubt of their suc- 
cess. It would be difficult to state every particu- 
lar to which this reform might be extended. Dress, 



Abridgment of Labor. 571 

furniture, and cookery are evidently open to im- 
provement. Fewer garments might be worn, and 
these, too, made, if it were necessary, in a less 
complicated and expensive manner. At present, 
little or no regard is paid to the time spent in 
making garments, provided they are only gotten up 
in the most approved style. Neither the first cost, 
nor the durability, nor the utility of articles in 
this line, is much regarded. Nor is the task of 
cleaning and keeping in order suites of rooms and 
superfluous furniture often considered. The great 
absorbing object which justifies all expense, and 
sets at naught all pains, is to appear in style. For 
this alone education may be scrimped, morals 
ruined, comforts banished, and healthy exercise 
converted into hopeless drudgery. But more than 
all others does the culinary department require to 
be curtailed. Its demands exceed all measure; 
they scarcely leave a shred of time for other du- 
ties. We all know there are many things which 
consume the time of housekeeping besides mere 
cookery; but I also know that, as things are, the 
latter comes in for a very large share of lady 
efforts and strength. It is no light task to pre- 
pare hot water, and make tea or coffee, twice or 
three times a day; to heat one's self over the 
fire, the stove, or the oven two or three times 
a day, and to prepare several hot dishes for 
every meal, and make ready the sauces, gravies, 



572 Scholastic Literature. 

and other accompaniments for each meal. Nor is 
it a small matter to wash a host of plates and 
platters, and tea-cups, and coffee-bowls, and tum- 
blers, and knives, and forks, and spoons, three or 
four times a day. I verily believe it is the trim- 
mings of our meals, the non-essentials rather than 
the essentials, that consume the great bulk of the 
time of females. Cooking there must indeed be 
— baking, boiling, stewing, roasting; but these 
processes need not be so conducted as to absorb 
all our time. There is no more need of cooking 
every thing new for each meal than there is of 
washing clothes every day, not a whit; nor is 
there any necessity for having half-a-dozen courses 
of food at the same meal — one course is enough; 
and one cooked dish is enough for prince or peas- 
ant at one meal. The preparation of meat, and 
potatoes, and turnips, and puddings, and pies, and 
fruits, to succeed each other as so many different 
courses, with accompaniments, pickles, sauces, and 
gravies, to say nothing of any hot drinks to ac- 
company them, is a species of tyranny, imposed 
by fashion, to which no housekeeper ought ever to 
be compelled to submit. It may be difficult for 
her to change the current, but it is good for her 
life, and the life of her husband and children, to 
do so. I tremble when I think how woman's time, 
one of the most precious gifts of God, is frittered 
away in pampering the want and administering to 



Abridgment of Labor. 573 

the pleasures of the mere physical nature of man. 
She must toil twelve, fifteen, or eighteen hours a 
day in attending to his apartments, his clothes, 
his stomach, and wear herself out in this way, and 
leave the marks of this wear and tear in the con- 
stitution of her children, and to her daughter the 
same legacy which she received from her mother 
— the permission to wear herself out prematurely 
in the same manner ; nay, she often gloried in it. 
This is, in fact, the worst feature of slavery; it 
obliterates the very relish of liberty, and makes 
the slave endure the chains. Especially is this 
so with the slavery of our lusts, and passions, and 
properties, and appetites. Woman not only toils 
on, the willing slave of an arbitrary fashion, that 
demands of her to surrender her whole nature, 
bodily, mentally, and morally, to the din of plates, 
and pots, and kettles, but she is often proud of 
them, and seeks her reputation in them. She 
vainly seems to suppose that to prepare fashion- 
able compounds in the most fashionable style, and 
to set an immense variety of her fashionable com- 
pounds on the same table, is to act up to the highest 
dignity of her nature. I do not mean that she 
ever asserts this in so many words, but she does in 
her actions. 



574 Scholastic Literature, 



CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 

BY J. M. Mc . 

Capital punishment implies the infliction of the 
penalty of death, in pursuance of law. The pun- 
ishment of death is fearful and awful. It assumes 
the responsibilities, not only of this world, but of 
dreadful eternity. The ties of human sympathy, 
and the obligations of religion, if duly regarded, 
will at once prohibit capital punishment. If we 
have no sympathy for a culprit, we should at 
least grant him the right to retain his life till his 
Maker requires it of him. Whosoever will not 
grant this right, is himself guilty of rashness and 
injustice. Man received life from his Maker, and 
we can reasonably suppose that the latter will 
take that life whenever the proper time arrives, 
without the instrumentality of human laws. But 
some punishment is necessary to prevent the in- 
crease of crimes, and that punishment should be 
resorted to which affects the temporal condition 
of mankind. Man should be loth to commit an 
act, the effect of which he is not certain. By 



Capital Punishment. 575 

executing the punishment of death, the criminal 
would be plunged into everlasting miseries ; whereas 
if he is confined in prison for the term of life, he 
has time and opportunity to reflect, to repent, and 
to supplicate forgiveness, that he might be pre- 
pared to meet his God in peace. If one soul, 
rescued from the miseries of hell, causes as much 
rejoicing in heaven as "ninety-nine just persons 
who need no pardon," should not the judge trem- 
ble while condemning a criminal to death, and 
thereby depriving him of all hope of heaven? 



576 Scholastic Literature. 



THE TWILIGHT OF THE HEART. 

Yes ! the heart hath its twilight — a time when 
the shadows fall, and the light is dim; a time 
when retrospection is mournfully pleasant, and 
tears, like evening dew-drops, gently distill. The 
sunlight may be flashingly glorious, or quiet stars 
be twinkling in the midnight sky; but the heart 
can have its twilight alike in the morning's glow 
or the midnight's gloom. Let the soul but be 
hushed to silence, and memory and imagination's 
busy train fixed on the past and its shadowy 
vistas ; let forms once loved appear, and voices 
long silent wake again echoes in the heart; let 
the joys of life's sinless hours pass before us, re- 
freshing the mind by the remembrance of their 
purity and innocence; let all the aspirations of 
hope, and the bright dreams of youthful ambition, 
be recalled, and softened, and mellowed, by dis- 
tance — they will seem brighter than aught the 
future may promise ; and at such moments you 
will feel that the shadows of the heart's twilight 
have fallen upon your spirit. At such moments, 
commune with thine own heart, and be still; let 



The Twilight of the Heart. 577 

meditation ply her holy task, and thy reveries, in 
the somber light in which thou art shrouded, may 
awaken purer feelings and nobler resolves than 
all pens save that of inspiration — than the lyre 
of the poet, or the tongue of the eloquent orator. 
Art thou a lover of wisdom ? Seek it, at such 
moments, in the page which the past has written 
on thy memory. There thou wilt find records 
which none but thine own heart may know ; they 
are springs at which others may strive to drink, 
but in vain. Drink, then, capacious draughts, 
and thou wilt confess, when thou attainest to self- 
knowledge, that thou hast not drunk in vain. Wel- 
come, then, thrice welcome, the hallowed twilight; 
dearer thou art than the closing shades of sum- 
mer's eve to wanderers under whispering boughs 
near murmuring streams; for in thy dim, mys- 
terious light we behold forms which meet but the 
eye of the spirit, and with our own hearts we 
become stransrelv familiar. Such seasons come to 
all, but not to all do they bring the same blessed- 
ness. From the mists of the solemn twilight 
"angels may beckon, or demons frown;" to some 
they may be the harbingers of nights of peace, 
and mornings of sunlit glory; to others, of nights 
of darkness, and mornings of storm. Art thou of 
those to whom such seasons bring no joy — a joy 
in which smiles and tears are strangely blended? 

In the sparkle of the wine-cup, and the mazes of 
25 



578 Scholastic Literature. 

the dance, dost thou flee those hours of thought 
which are wont to force themselves upon thee? 
Do the phantoms of the past affright thee ? Dost 
thou call oblivion thy friend, and eagerly seek for 
forge tfulness ? Beware! thou art fleeing from 
that which would befriend thee, and wasting mo- 
ments infinitely more precious than the pearls dis- 
solved in the goblet of the Egyptian queen. They 
may tell of waywardness, and perchance of crime ; 
but, like the whispers of angels, they would call 
thee back from thy wanderings, and point to a 
destiny in unison with thy noble nature and the 
cravings of that spirit whose very desires prove 
its immortality. But art thou of those whom vir- 
tue blushes not to own? If so, thy heart's twi- 
light is not a starless one. Thou shalt be re- 
minded with the mist- robed forms which seem 
gliding before thee, and thy tongue shall join in 
the same anthem with the voices which seem fall- 
ing on the spirit's ear. Lo ! even now the stars 
come forth to the gaze of thy soul — stars brighter 
than those which look down on earth ; they are 
the stars of hope and promise which gem the 
heaven of God's revelation; they tell of a land 
of light, where the trees of life ever bloom, and 
the flowers are unwithering — where the waters of 
life's -river, flowing from beneath the throne, flash 
brightly in the beams of an unsetting sun — where 
twilight gives place to a ceaseless day. 



The Grave-yard. 579 



THE GRAVE-YARD. 

I have often thought that if there be a place 
on earth that will call back bright scenes of the 
past, and a remembrance of friends that my heart 
used to cherish, it is a ramble to the grave-yard, 
where rest the objects of my own soul. Yes, what 
thoughts are aroused within the inner depths of 
the heart, when standing around the grave of be- 
loved friends ! 'T was here we paid the last tribute 
of respect for them. We think of the happy mo- 
ments that w T e have spent together with these, as 
friends w T ho have left the walks of men. Per- 
haps we may look upon the grave of a little 
brother, or sister, and ask, -Can it be so, that that 
little one that we have so often lulled to sleep by 
our sweet lullabies, and watched over it while 
sleeping, and saw those radiant smiles flow from 
its dimpled cheek — (I have often heard it said 
that when babes smiled, angels were talking to 
them) — has passed from earth away to a world 
unknown to us ? Can it be so, that those spark- 
ling eyes, that once expressed so much innocence, 
now lie closed forever? and can it be that that 



580 Scholastic Literature. 

prattling tongue, that used to cheer the mother's 
wear j hours, has ceased its prattling? Surely it 
is so. But we should look to Heaven, in sweet 
submission, and say : " The Lord gave, and the 
Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of 
the Lord." Who of us has not been robbed of a 
kind friend ? I answer, that there has been no 
one but what has placed beneath the cold sod of 
the valley some treasure that will ever cause their 
thoughts and desires to tend to the place where 
rest their lovely bodies. But, alas ! my dear 
school-mates, we all must die, sooner or later ; so 
let us prepare our souls for their doom beyond 
the grave. I will only ask of you that, when I 
have bid adieu to all things earthly, will you, my 
sister school-mates, ever drop a tear, or plant one 
rose on my grave, as a token of love and friend- 
ship. This is the boon I ask of you. Good-bye ! 



Astronomy. 581 



ASTRONOMY. 

BY W. E. CARRIGAN. 

An Address, delivered before the Bedford County Teachers' Association, at 
Thompson's Creek Academy, Sept. 7, 1869. 

Me. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: — In 
compliance with a time-honored usage, coeval with 
the origin of this Association, I propose a brief 
address for this occasion, on the important subject 
of Astronomy. That it is all -important, those 
who understand it will readily concede. That it 
is a true science, that its principles are as deduc- 
tive and conclusive as those of any other — mathe- 
matics and the English language not excepted — 
is controverted by none, save those who are so 
unfortunate as not to have been favored with a 
knowledge of it. Its origin antedates that of any 
other science. It was diligently studied, and a 
very correct theory established, about five hun- 
dred years before the Christian era. Pythagoras, 
a celebrated Grecian astronomer, taught this sci- 
ence at Crotona, and exhibited more correct views 
of the nature of celestial motions than were en- 
tertained by any of his predecessors or contem- 



582 Scholastic Literature. 

poraries. His views, however, were not generally 
adopted, but lay neglected for nearly two thou- 
sand years, when they were revived by Coper- 
nicus of Prussia, and Galileo of Italy. It is the 
system that is now adopted, and is known as the 
Copernican system. It maintains that the appar- 
ent diurnal revolution of the heavenly bodies from 
east to west is owing to the real revolution of the 
earth on its own axis from west to east in the 
same time, and that the sun is the great center 
around which the earth and all the planets re- 
volve ; contrary to the opinion that the earth is 
the center of motion, as is often maintained, even 
in this enlightened age. But those minds which 
forcibly divested themselves of all previously-im- 
pressed notions and prepossessed ideas of the 
modus operandi of the solar system, and have im- 
partially, yet thoroughly, investigated the true 
principles and theories, as furnished by the vari- 
ous works extant on the subject, have found no 
difficulty in adopting the above system, as being 
true, rational, and conclusive. 

I shall endeavor to give some idea of the na- 
ture and construction of the solar system; and, 
reasoning from analogy, as is plainly indicated and 
exhibited in the natural world, it is clearly shown 
and established that there are thousands — yea, 
millions — of similar systems floating through the 
immensity of space ; and from such reasoning we 



Astronomy. 583 

begin to realize something of the grand principles 
of astronomy. It teaches that all the fixed stars 
that bedeck the skies are suns, having, like our 
sun, numerous planets revolving around them. 
The solar system, or that to which we belong, 
has fifty-four planets inclusive — eight primary, 
twenty secondary, and twenty-six asteroids ; and 
the circular space which it occupies is three thou- 
sand six hundred million of miles, and that which, 
it controls is much greater. I will now notice the 
primary planets. These have — or the most of 
them have — attendants, or satellites, which re- 
volve around them as they revolve around the 
sun. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Sat- 
urn, Uranus, and Neptune, are the primary plan- 
ets. The number of satellites belonging to them 
vary from one to eight; and their distances from 
the sun — the great center — vary from thirty- 
seven million to two billion eight hundred mil- 
lion miles^ Mercury being the nearest, and Nep- 
tune the farthest, from the sun. Mercury and 
Venus are inferior planets, for they have their 
orbits nearer the sun than the earth ; and the 
others are denominated superior, from the fact 
that their orbits are exterior to that of the earth. 
Jupiter is distinguished from all the others by his 
great magnitude. He is fourteen hundred times 
as large as the earth, and accomplishes his diurnal 
revolution in about ten hours. A place on the 



584 Scholastic Literature. 

equator of Jupiter revolves about four hundred 
and fifty miles in a minute, or about twenty-seven 
times as fast as the earth. His belts and satel- 
lites are among the greatest wonders belonging to 
universal creation. Saturn, with his rings, cir- 
cumvolving through the dim vista of pathless re- 
gions, is too transcendent in grandeur and sublim- 
ity for the mind to contemplate. The rings must 
present a most magnificent spectacle from those 
regions of the planet which lie on the illuminated 
portions, appearing as vast arches spanning the 
sky from horizon to horizon, and holding an invari- 
able situation among the stars. The rings of Sat- 
urn revolve as the planet revolves, and are found 
to be, from calculation, about a hundred miles in 
diameter, or thickness. The satellites of Uranus 
are exceedingly minute, and are visible only to 
the most powerful telescopes. The discovery of 
Neptune is said to be the most remarkable astro- 
nomical event that ever occurred in the research 
of physical science. Its volume is nearly sixty 
times that of the earth. We will notice the sun, 
the masterpiece of the whole machinery, so to 
speak. He presents to us a figure of a perfect 
circle, and is distant from the earth nearly ninety- 
five million of miles. For us to form some faint 
conception of this vast distance, let us reflect that 
a railway car, traveling at the rate of twenty miles 
per hour, would require more than five hundred 



Astronomy. 585 

years to reach the sun ; and to illustrate farther : 
The moon being at a distance of two hundred and 
forty thousand miles from the earth, were the 
center made to coincide w T ith the center of the 
earth, the sun would extend every w^ay from the 
earth tw 7 ice as far as the moon. In proportion to 
magnitude and density, the sun is three hundred 
and fifty thousand times as in the earth; and 
owing to this fact, and another equally as evident, 
a body at the sun weighs about twenty-eight times 
as much as at the earth. 

I have been thus explicit on the distances and 
dimensions of the solar system in order to impress 
on the minds of those who seldom reflect on these 
momentous magnitudes and distances, the omnis- 
cience and omnipotence of God, the architect of 
the universe, as displayed throughout all his works. 
It is believed that every one should bring the sub- 
ject of God's creation often before his reflection, 
and endeavor to form some conception of its vast- 
ness and requisite power to create such from 
nothing. By the investigation of this science the 
mind is led to contemplate the wondrous power 
that hurled millions of w r orlds into existence, and 
sent them into the midst of illimitable space, and 
spoke order from chaos and confusion, and by it 
intelligences are enabled to approximate to a nearer 
and more extensive comprehension of His mar- 
velous works. There are many other phenomena 
25* 



586 Scholastic Literature. 

connected with the subject, such as eclipses, con- 
stellations, galaxy, or milky way, comets, and 
double stars, which I will notice briefly. 

Eclipses are produced by planets passing be- 
tween the sun and other planets. Often, when the 
moon comes between the earth and the sun, a beau- 
tiful yet strange freak is observed in all the sur- 
roundings. Constellations are groups of stars 
which formed their positions and acquired names 
deduced from the nearest figure they represent in 
appearance. The largest constellations contain 
many hundreds, and even thousands, of stars. 
Those which we are accustomed to call the "seven 
stars" are known in astronomy by the name of 
Pleiades, though it has been said of very high 
antiquity that only six are present. The Latin 
poet declares : " Quea septem dici sex tamen esse 
solent." But, by the aid of a telescope, fifty or 
sixty stars, of considerable brightness, may be 
seen in this group. And double stars are those 
which appear single to the naked eye, but by the aid 
of a large reflector they are seen very close together. 
Sometimes three or four are thus observed in close 
proximity, and are then termed triple, or multiple 
stars. Temporary stars are those which have 
made their appearance, and after an interval as 
suddenly disappear and return no more. Variable 
stars are those which undergo a periodical change 
of brightness and splendor. Clusters of nebulae 



Astronomy. 587 

are seen in large groups, which may be seen by 
the naked eye or by the aid of the telescope, and 
are perceived to consist of a great number of small 
stars. Such are the Pleiades. Aries is the most 
conspicuous cluster. The galaxy is supposed to 
be a nebulae, of which our sun and its planets form 
a conspicuous part; and why it appears so much 
greater than other nebulse is only in consequence 
of our situation with respect to it, and its greater 
proximity to the solar system. 

The next most remarkable inhabitants of the 
ethereal regions are comets — "the wanderers of 
the upper deep." The number belonging to the 
system is said to be very great ; there have been 
estimated as many as one hundred and eighty. 
Some of these are remarkable for their brightness, 
and splendor, and immense size. The periods of 
comets making revolutions around the sun are 
greatly various. Some complete their revolutions 
in three and one-third years, while one in particu- 
lar — that of 1811 — required a period of three 
thousand three hundred and eighty-three years. 
Halley's comet is three billion six hundred mil- 
lion miles from the sun. When they vanish from 
our view, it is said they often reach the orbit of 
Jupiter, and successively traverse the orbits of 
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, reaching, their 
aphelion six hundred million miles beyond the 
present boundaries of the planetary system. Some 



588 Scholastic Literature, 

are thought to recede to a greater distance than 
this, and that of 1811, which is estimated to have 
receded forty-five billion of miles; while some are 
supposed to pass into hyperbolic orbits and never 
return. Comets shine from reflected light of the 
sun, and increase in apparent size as they approach 
the sun, and extend in a direct line from it. They 
are supposed to assume this form owing to the 
great rapidity with which they travel through space. 

" Meteoric showers" is a very remarkable phe- 
nomenon in the natural world. It is established 
that they consist of light, combustible matter, and 
that they move with velocity. Some are of large 
size, sometimes several thousand feet in diameter. 
But when they enter the atmosphere, they rapidly 
and powerfully condense the air before them, and 
thus elicit the heat that sets them on fire. It is 
believed that these take their origin from a nebu- 
lous body with which the earth falls in, and near 
or through the borders of which it passes, and 
thus separates, or scatters, the substance; and 
being attracted by the earth in its revolution, they 
naturally descend toward the earth. 

The principle of attraction of gravitation has 
much to do in a clear conception of the science of 
astronomy. Also the science of geometry is fun- 
damental, and essential to comprehend how the 
calculations of the relative distances of bodies, 
situated in the ethereal regions, are effected. 



Astronomy. 589 

I will now close this feeble effort concerning this 
invaluable science by suggesting the propriety of 
teachers adopting and encouraging the study of 
this science more than is usually done in our 
schools. In my judgment, none are superior to it 
for purposes for which the sciences are generally 
studied. If confined to the distinct idea of ex- 
panding the powers of the mind, and disciplining 
them in active thought and investigation, none can 
excel it. Hence, I earnestly recommend it to the 
consideration of teachers present. 



590 Scholastic Literature. 



TRIALS OF THE STUDENT. 

Indeed, my school-mates, we have undergone 
many trials since here we met five months ago ; 
for going to school is very confining ; but still we 
have gained a knowledge of some of the great 
principles that should be inculcated in the minds 
and hearts of youths. While we have been here, 
Ave have been under the ever-watchful eye of our 
teacher, who lets nothing pass without perceiving 
it. We have often thought that he surely had an 
eye in the back of his head, for you are all aware 
of the fact that students think themselves very sly 
in their mischief, and always choose a time "to cut 
up," as it is termed by scholars, when his eyes 
were turned some other course, as we thought; 
but we would go ahead in any mischief that would 
cause a little laugh in school, unconscious of his 
knowing any thing about it. But mind, in a day 
or two he would begin to hint around, and then 
watch the eyes of those engaged in the mischief: 
they will begin to wink, and ask one another how 
in the world he found it out : Do you think that 
he saw us ? Surely he has an eye in the back of 



Trials of the Student. 591 

his head, for I know lie was not looking this way. 
But never mind, we will only wait till he goes to 
his dinner; then we will have a nice time; then we 
will get to speak to that black-eyed darling, or 
dimple-cheeked Willie, whom we so dearly love ! 
But keep watch, put out your pickets ; if you 
do n't mind he will slip right upon you before you 
have hardly caught the glimpse of that lovely eye ! 
But watch ! he is coming ! Hoist the windows ! 
boys, jump out of the window! merci- 
ful me! what shall I do? he will put a mark of 
misdemeanor against us for violation of the rules. 
But what makes old folks so particular about their 
girls, anyhow? I wonder if they never did the 
like, if they never got the chance to speak to the 
boys ! I would like to know how they ever got 
married ! But never mind, we will fix the old lark 
yet, if he does not watch very closely! There 
are more ways to choke dogs than feeding them on 
butter : we will send off and get a few quires of 
paper, and then we will write to one another. 
Well, we write, and in a few days he will call us 
up and begin to lecture as usual, and give us some 
very good advice. But listen now what he says: 
" I have learned, through a reliable source, that 
there has been a little too much letter-writing in 
school, which I say must positively be stopped." 
And so you see our correspondence is cut off again. 
And now what must we do? I will just tell you, 



592 Scholastic Literature. 

my school-mates, Let us obey the rules of the 
school, and when we get through our education, 
and get to be our own, we will then talk and write 
just as much as we please. 



Parting Advice. 593 



PARTING ADVICE. 

BY S. F. DARNALL. 

In presenting myself before this audience this 
evening to deliver the Valedictory, to which posi- 
tion I have been elected by the voices and parti- 
alities of my school-mates in New Hope Academy, 
I feel my incompetency to say all that some might 
say on such an occasion; but I fully appreciate 
my position, and shall try to reflect credit on those 
who placed me here as their representative. 

My school-mates, we have been assembled here 
within these classic walls for the last five months, 
striving to make some ascent up the craggy hill of 
science. As to our advancement in this degree, 
we leave for those to say who have witnessed 
our examination. We are very sure that we have 
derived some advantages in the way of wisdom 
and knowledge, and can say that we have spent 
some happy moments together, "me thinks the 
happiest imaginable ;" yet we are fully aware that 
a long pathway yet lies before us, yea, an immense 
field for improvement. Notwithstanding this, we 



594 Scholastic Literature. 

are not discouraged, for " I can" conquers, while " I 
can't" never achieves a victory. It requires un- 
tiring energy and an intellectual nerve, one that 
never yields, to mount the pinnacles of fame, and 
soar aloft to the worlds of grandeur and greatness. 
While we have been here striving to gain knowl- 
edge, our teacher has been encouraging us by his 
kind instruction and prudent admonition, and often 
we would come to the conclusion that learning was 
a dangerous thing, and we would be on the point 
to abandon school; but then, by proper stimula- 
tion, we would make one more energetic effort, and 
when we succeeded we would be again encouraged. 
And thus we have been gathering stimulating re- 
freshment from that ever-desirable fount — knowl- 
edge ; and this evening our energies are more un- 
tiring than when we began, for we have now been 
permitted to have a foretaste of the refined spirits 
that cluster around fame's highest pinnacle. We 
confess this evening that we are not satisfied to 
gather only a few of these rare delicacies, that fall 
from the ambrosial top of the ladder of fame, but 
feel determined to glean step by step, and gather 
a full supply of those bright flowers that form a 
wreath of greatness, in order to satiate our intel- 
lectual thirsting by taking a full drink of the spring 
of knowledge and wisdom that roll their placid 
waters throughout the field of intellectual feast- 
ings. My school-mates, we have spent many happy 



Parting Advice. 595 

moments together around this lovely spot, but 
time, yes, time, with his effacing fingers, has 
whirled them into oblivion. time! why will 
you snatch from our lips the cup of joy ? Why 
dispel the sweet pleasures of life by the stern re- 
alities of the world ? Why add more of our lives 
to those moments that are gone, irrevocably gone? 
But we will not appeal, for he is merciless — those 
happy hours are numbered with things that were; 
they are retained by fond memory's golden chain, 
and will be for ages; they will come up in after 
years, when we are, perhaps, in another land, to 
cheer our lonely life as green spots in the wide 
waste of human life. Would you, my dear com- 
rades, have your name written among those that 
are now inscribed on the highest key-stone of 
fame? Would you have a name that will live 
while your bodies are slumbering in the dark and 
lowly tomb? Then let your motto be, " Onward 
and upward." What though troubles and trials 
assail you; though obstacles, mountain-high, im- 
pede your progress, yet despair not. Go on, re- 
membering that wisdom's ways are w T ays of pleas- 
antness, and all her paths are paths of peace. 
Look at those names engraven on the tablet of 
immortality, and ask, How came they there? What 
made them such shining lights in the galaxy of 
glory ? Did they, when the dark and murky 
clouds of adversity covered their path, grow faint- 



596 Scholastic Literature. 

hearted and weary, and fall by the way-side ? or 
did they, when the fiery blast of the deepest dark- 
ness wafted their breezes around them, surrender to 
its demand ? Not so ; " but like an eagle proudly 
careering to his mountain home, they bade defiance 
to the storm, and fearlessly ascended to fame's 
proudest eyrie." Though they have bid adieu to 
all things earthly, their spirits, in all their beauty 
and sublimity, are still lingering with us yet; they 
beckon to the timid ones, and say to the faint- 
hearted, Turn neither to the right nor to the left. 
You must, like us, attain these heights by life's 
earnest toils and endeavors. So let us ever keep 
our eyes steadily fixed upon those shining lights 
which lead to honor and immortality ; and while 
we are gaining fresh supplies from the earth, the 
air, and sea, shall we not have that wisdom puri- 
fied and made perfect by drinking deeply of the 
crystal cup, filled by angels' hands from limpid 
streams above? 

My school-mates, we bid adieu this evening ; it 
may be a last and final adieu ; it may be before 
the rising or setting of another sun that some of 
our little band may be confined to the narrow 
vault of the tomb ; never more may we hear the 
chiming of yonder bell — death may claim one of 
the most loved as his victim. Let us part with 
bright hopes, that if we meet no more on earth, 
we may strike hands in heaven, that ever-blissful 



Parting Advice. 597 

shore. If there have been any hard feelings any 
way, bury them beneath the sands of oblivion, 
where the surges of water may fill up imprints 
made in the sand, but cannot erase thoughts traced 
and engraven in the tablet of the mind. Mighty 
rivers may flow between us, and lofty mountains 
rise, and great lakes extend their watery domain, 
and we may never have the pleasure of seeing one 
another any more; but I wish you all that happi- 
ness beyond the tomb which is deprived us here 
below. My reveries by day and my dreams by 
night will ever carry me back to the associations 
of old New Hope. I will ever think of you, dear 
school-mates, as friends true to my heart ; and to 
you, our kind teacher, may Heaven's choicest bless- 
ings rest on you! 

" Teacher, dear, we '11 long remember 
Truths your love would e'er impart, 
And no more shall they unheeded 
Fall upon a stony heart. 

" Pray for us, your far-off pupils ; 

Keep, O keep our memories bright ! 
Welcome as the beams of morning ; 
Welcome as the stars of night. 

" May we tread the path of wisdom ; 
May we gain fair learning's prize ; 
May we meet, when life is ended, 
In the home beyond the skies !" 



598 Scholastic Literature. 



HOME HAS A CHARM. 

How sweet, how cheering and animating are the 
associations that cluster around the word home! 
Happy childhood ! How it causes the tear to run 
down the hardy sailor-boy's cheek when tempest- 
tossed on the bounding billows, when surrounded 
by strange faces and unfeeling hearts, where no 
sound greets his ear save the dashing waves or the 
roaring of the huge billows, whilst he knows not 
what moment he may be hurried beneath the angry 
waves ! Then it is he feels that home has a charm, 
and hope, the cheering, animating spark, comforts 
him in his grief, and soon his tears are dried up, 
like the waters of the burning desert, and he lives 
in anticipation of reaching his paternal home again, 
to meet the embrace of his long - remembered 
friends and much-cherished home ; and with those 
bright anticipations he sinks beneath the waves to 
rise no more. The youthful warrior, when he bids 
adieu to his childhood home to seek distinction in 
the battle-field, feels that his native home has a 
charm no other can attain; and when in the field 
of battle, surrounded by the bodies of thousands 



Home has a Charm. 599 

of his fellow-men, striving in agony on the ground 
to languish and die, his mind reverts to his happy 
and peaceful home, where all is happiness; and 
how he loves his cherished home, where there are 
hearts to pity him and friends to sympathize with 
him ! 

In imagination he is in his lovely cottage, and 
hears the rippling streams and murmuring water- ' 
falls ; the soothing voice of his mother and the 
merry laugh of sisters and brothers are all in his 
imagination. Every valley and brook has a charm 
to him. He lives over again his childhood hours, 
when he sported and basked in dreams of future 
bliss. thoughtless lad ! those happy days are 
passed to return no more ; and thou art far away 
from thy happy home and sunny skies to share the 
fate of the warrior, with no kind sister near to ease 
thy dying posture ; no affectionate mother to bind 
up the bleeding wounds ; and as he wipes the cold 
sweat from his sun-burnt brow, he feels that home 
has a charm. The friendless orphan, deprived in 
early life of kind parents, and cast upon the cold 
charities of the world without a friendly home, 
sighs when he thinks of the happy hours he spent 
in his humble home, the pride and joy of an affec- 
tionate mother's heart. Home has a charm for 
every one. 

" How sweet it is to sit beneath a fond father's smile, 
With the care of a mother to soothe and beguile ! 



600 Scholastic Literature. 

Let delight amid pleasure to roam ; 

But give me, O give me, the pleasures of home ! " 

The friendless outcast in this world, who toils 
from the rising to the setting of the sun for his 
daily food, as he returns from the field at the close 
of day to the mansion of the rich man, on whom 
he is dependent, feels that home would have a 
charm, be it ever so humble. The school-girl, who 
has long been separated from her kindred, in order 
to lay up stores of knowledge, when the session 
draws to a close, though she may be depressed in 
spirits at the thoughts of parting with beloved 
school-mates with whom she has associated for 
many days, those with whom she has walked hand 
in hand at noon; and yet when she thinks of re- 
turning again to her native home, has every sad 
thought banished from her mind, and she can bid 
farewell to loved ones without a sigh; for home 
has a charm for her, and the ties that bind her to 
her home are stronger than any other. you who 
have homes ! appreciate them as you ought, for it 
is the dearest and sweetest spot on earth. Be it 
ever so humble, there is no place like home, when 
we are ever burdened with sorrow. And here it 
is that we can find those who will rejoice with us 
in prosperity, and weep with us in adversity. 
Though joys may be found in other climes, though 
the fields of other lands may be as green and the 
skies as blue, though faces may be found as fair 



Home has a Charm. 601 

and hearts as true, still, home has a charm for us 
which can never be found elsewhere. Let others 
seek joys in distant lands, but give me, give 
me, the joys of home! Contented will I be there 
with those that are dear to me for my associates. 

"And when from the skies some kind angel shall come 
To bear me from earth to a happier home, 
To the home of my childhood shall my last look be given, 
And seem, as it now does, the portrait of heaven." 
26 



602 Scholastic Literature, 



WE ARE TRAVELERS, AND GLEANING 
BY THE WAYSIDE. 



BY MOLLIE Y. GILL. 



Life is a journey, the length of which no one 
is able to tell, for longevity is a period not known 
even to the wisest of men. To-day we see the 
little gleaner gathering fruits, and preparing for a 
long journey ; to-morrow his journey may close. 
So we see that he who has scarcely learned how 
or what to glean is as apt to reach the end of his 
journey first as he who has gleaned abundant 
stores. To some, the journey of life is pleasant ; 
to others, rough and cloudy; but to no one is it an 
unruffled sea of pleasure. 

" We weep while joys and sorrows both are fading from our 
views, 
To find where'er sunbeams fall, shadows come too." 

'Tis said that life is what we make it; if so, 
our happiness depends upon what we glean by the 
wayside of this journey ; and as there is much to 
glean, as many tares as wheat, as many thorns and 
thistles as flowers and fruit, as much sorrow as 



We are Travelers. 603 

happiness, as much hatred as friendship and love, 
as much deception as truth, we should be careful 
to have the right kind of a guide, lest, at the close 
of our journey, we groan beneath a load of sin and 
sorrow. At the commencement of the journey of 
life, our minds are as a piece of blank paper, upon 
which something beneficial or ornamental may be 
written, or scribbled over, with something that 
will neither interest nor profit any one. The first 
impressions made are parental affections, with 
which, for a long time, all our little wounds are 
healed. At this period the heart is tender, the 
will more or less flexible, the spirit fresh and buoy- 
ant; therefore a proper direction should be given 
our thoughts, actions, and feelings, because man is 
prone to err; and as first impressions are more 
lasting, they should be those of truth and virtue. 
As soon as reason begins to exert her powers, 
thought, during our waking hours, becomes active 
in every mind, without one moment's suspension 
or pause. The current of ideas begins to flow, and 
the wheel of the spiritual engine to circulate with 
perpetual motion; then purity of thought and pur- 
pose should be stamped upon our mind in its un- 
sophisticated and formative period; and they can 
never be entirely effaced by the contaminating con- 
tact of vicious principles, or by the deleterious in- 
fluences of demoralizing but popular examples, 
associations, and pleasures. 



604* Scholastic Literature, 

The first thing the gleaner endeavors to obtain 
is happiness, that butterfly that roves from flower 
to flower in the vast garden of existence, and 
which is eagerly pursued by a vast multitude with 
the vain hope of obtaining the prize; and after it 
has continually eluded their grasp, experience 
teaches them that permanent happiness is unknown 
on earth. Many things are essential to happiness, 
the greatest of which is a proper education ; there- 
fore, to render the journey of life happy, we should 
begin to glean knowledge so soon as the mind is 
capable of receiving impressions. For knowledge 
is valuable not only for the pleasure it imparts, but 
for the permanent wealth it secures. It is gold 
that perisheth not — earth's only lasting treasure, 
and the only source from which any thing like 
durable happiness is obtained. The advantages 
to be obtained from the acquisition of knowledge 
are many, and of incalculable importance. It 
softens and refines our grosser feelings, and makes 
us the pure beings we were ere we learned to sin, 
or felt its fearful penalty. A well-cultivated and 
refined mind is not the gleaning of a year, or a 
few years, but many. We glean knowledge from 
all we see; from the most humble to the most 
exalted things of earth ; from the tiniest bubble 
of the brook to the ocean s wave ; from the most 
delicate flower to the stateliest tree; from the 
smallest star that decks the brow of heaven, to 



We are Travelers. 605 

the sun that proudly rules the host above. We 
should not be content with gleaning a little knowl- 
edge; we should not think that when we have 
decked our brows with a few gems, we have 
enough to light us to the end of our journey; one 
more might enable us to see gems far more bril- 
liant than those we possess, and another so en- 
lighten us as to see, just beyond, broad and ex- 
tensive fields, decked with gems of the richest 
hue, at the sight of which the persevering gleaner 
says : " I have not yet done. Brighter flowers 
than these are yet for me to glean, without which 
these I have will prove but useless weeds, and, 
instead of emitting fragrance, will soon begin to 
pierce me with their thorns." 

If it were in our power to look over the world's 
extended field, and see its various gleaners, what 
objects would be presented to our view ! Here 
w.e would see a bright-eyed child of truth glean- 
ing wheat among the tares ; there the aged form 
stooping beneath his load of sin and care; again, 
with bleeding hands, we would see some plucking 
still the thorny sheaves of sin. Some would be 
gleaning gaudy flowers that bloom in the morn- 
ing, wither at noonday, and in the evening fade 
and die; and would be shunning the plain, un- 
painted truths as worthless weeds by the way. 
All would be endeavoring to glean happiness — 
some by obtaining wealth, others by numberless 



606 Scholastic Literature. 

friends, and those who had a proper guide by 
gleaning things that were essential to happiness, 
such as contentment, kindness, forgiveness, gener- 
osity, amiableness, and various other graces and 
virtues. With these essentials we can be happy, 
but not without them; for how pleasant and de- 
sirable even small acts of kindness render the 
journey of life ! Every object is made light by 
them, every tear of sorrow brushed away. When 
the heart is sad, and despondency sits at the por- 
tals of the soul, a trifling kindness drives despair 
away, and makes the path cheerful and pleasant. 
We should never refuse to give the gleaner kind- 
ness ; it will cost us nothing, but will be invalu- 
able to him, if he is sad and sorrowing. "It 
raises from misery and degradation, and throws 
around the soul those hallowed joys that were 
lost in paradise." 

Forgiveness is essential to happiness. It has 
been truly said, that forgiveness is the odor which 
a flower yields when trampled upon. Nor can 
we be happy without contentment and amiable- 
ness. Therefore, in order to render the journey 
of life agreeable and pleasant, w T e should glean 
these essentials first. We see some persons glean- 
ing fame, and a name that, they smilingly say, 
shall live when they are no more. To obtain 
this they endure hunger and thirst, wade through 
blood, and trample upon the wounded and dying. 



We are Travelers. 607 

" But let Asia's murky mines unfold, 
Let Europe's thronging millions tell, 
The sweat and blood it costs 
To wear a princely coronal." 

But we need not go so far from home to learn 
the price of fame, for many in our own loved land 
have gleaned enough to know something of its 
cost. We should not let ambition fire our souls, 
or guide our footsteps; for it will point to rich- 
hue d flowers that will pierce us with their thorns 
ere we are able to pluck them. We should each 
for each a beacon be, and let our guide of guides 
be the light of the world — that star that points 
to eternal happiness. We should not seek a com- 
panion who will tell us that unmixed pleasure is 
known on this mundane sphere. By seeking dili- 
gently, we will find one, clad in robes of purity, 
wandering through the by-paths of this unchari- 
table world, giving words of kindness, and smiling 
upon the wayward traveler. Her name is Re- 
ligion. She not only points to unmixed pleasure, 
but will, after your gleanings are over, and you 
have reached the end of life's journey, lead you 
to a haven of rest. That haven will be the port 
of heaven. 



608 Scholastic Literature. 



ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. 

BY S. F. DARNALL. 

The word electricity is derived from the Greek 
word electron — amber. It was thus called, simply 
from the fact that it was in the friction of this 
substance that it was first observed. It is the 
subtile agent called the electric fluid, usually ex- 
cited by the friction of glass. Its phenomena are 
such as attraction and repulsion, heat and light, 
shocks of the animal system, and mechanical vio- 
lence. Dr. Olmsted says it is the science which 
unfolds the phenomena and laws of the electric 
fluid. It is doubted by modern philosophers 
whether it is a fluid, diffused through most bod- 
ies, and remarkable for the rapidity of its motion. 
It is one of the most active principles in nature. 
Thales, one of the seven sages of Greece, who 
flourished six hundred years before Christ, is said 
to have discovered this existing fluid. It was 
also mentioned by another Greek author, thirty- 
two years before Christ ; yet the ancients appear 
to have known nothing more than a few isolated 



Electricity and Magnetism. G09 

facts connected with the subject, and, as a sci- 
ence, it had no existence till the commencement 
of the seventeenth century, when Dr. Gilbert ap- 
plied the principles of philosophical investigation 
to the observation of the ancients. 

It may be generated by several distinct ways, 
of which the one most commonly employed is 
friction. For an instance, if a piece of sealing-wax 
be rubbed with a silk cloth, and a pith-ball be 
brought near, the ball will first be attracted and 
then repelled; but if a glass rod be rubbed in 
similar manner, and brought near the ball, it will 
attract. It may be strikingly illustrated by a 
very simple, yet amusing, experiment : by taking 
a glass rod, and rubbing it with a dry woolen 
cloth, and bringing it near a few fragments of 
paper, they will be raised almost from the surface 
on which they are placed. Again, it may be gen- 
erated by chemical action. Take two metals, 
such as zinc and copper, and place them in con- 
tact with each other and an acid at the same time ; 
the zinc will be dissolved by the acid, and rapid 
currents are found continuously flowing. This is 
called the galvanic battery — or rather, galvanic 
electricity — from its discoverer, Galvani. Its 
phenomena may be best exhibited by an electri- 
cal machine, which consists of a plate of glass 
revolving on an axis, and is subject to the fric- 
tion of a rubber of silk thinly covered with a 
26* 



610 Scholastic Literature. 

composition of tin and mercury, and is insulated 
by*a glass pillar communicating with a receiver 
by a brass chain. Attached to the machine is a 
metallic conductor, which is also insulated by a 
glass pillar. When the machine is in operation, 
vitreous electricity flows from the rubber and 
glass, by means of points, to the prime conductor. 
If the hand be placed upon the conductor, cur- 
rents will pass in opposite directions ; the vitreous 
passing into the body, while the resinous passes 
down the chain; but if the hand be held a little 
distance from it, a spark will dart through the 
air, causing a pricking sensation, attended by a 
slight report of heat and light. The sound is 
produced by the collapse of the air as the fluid 
passes through it, and the heat and light are sup- 
posed to result from the sudden condensation of 
the air. 

Since electricity has unfolded to us the causes 
of the greatest phenomena — such as lightning, 
whirlwind, and others that frequently visit us 
— it has hitherto added much to the importance 
of science. It serves great uses in life, and has 
been the means of restoring sensation to parts of 
the body that had become paralytic. It has been 
employed in some cases 'with highly beneficial 
effects.- It has had such great power upon the 
vital energies, that persons who have been de- 
prived of life, either by accident or design, have 



Electricity and Magnetism, 611 

been resuscitated by its agency. Its uses for 
scientific purposes are beyond calculation, and its 
phenomena are so various and extraordinary as to 
render the study exceedingly interesting. 

Magnetism may be considered as belonging to, 
or included with, electricity. Their theories are 
analogous to each other. It is the science that 
treats of the laws, properties, and phenomena of 
the magnetic fluid. Magnets are of two kinds — 
natural and artificial. The natural is an iron ore, 
found in great quantities in different parts of the 
earth, which has the power of drawing to itself 
small pieces of magnetic iron. It exerts this at- 
tractive force just as well through wood, stone, or 
any other material, as through the air. An arti- 
ficial magnet is made by bringing a piece of iron 
near a magnet, by which it receives magnetism. 
It also has the power of attracting other pieces 
with considerable force : it is only necessary for 
each successive object to be smaller than the one 
to which it is attached. This attractive power of 
the magnet, or loadstone, appears to have been 
known to the Greeks, Chinese, and other nations, 
in remote antiquity. It is distinctly alluded to 
by Homer and Aristotle. The magnet received 
its name from Magnesia, a city in Asia, near which 
it was found. Pliny speaks of a chain of iron 
rings, suspended one from another, of which the 
first was upheld by a loadstone. He also tells 



612 Scholastic Literature. 

us that Ptolemy Philadelphia proposed to build a 
temple, the ceiling of which was to be of load- 
stone, that its attraction might hold up an iron 
statue of his queen suspended in the air. Death 
prevented him from carrying out his design. The 
attractive power of the magnet is not equal in 
all its parts, but strongest at its extremities. A 
natural magnet, when small, will sustain many 
times its weight of iron. Sir Isaac Newton is 
said to have worn a piece of loadstone, in a ring, 
that would weigh three grains, and would raise 
seven hundred and fifty grains of iron. The 
most powerful magnet known is capable of raising 
three hundred and ten pounds. This is one of 
its greatest uses ; by this it has lightened, to a 
great extent, the labors of man. 

Electricity and magnetism, taken together, form 
a very interesting science. It is hoped that they 
may be studied and well comprehended, that we 
may more fully understand the laws i rA proper- 
ties of bodies. 



Aim High. 613 



AIM HIGH. 

BY K. A. McCONNEL. 

Life, a mere expanse of years, is like the great 
Sahara swept by the fatal simoom — leaves nothing 
but a sandy wreck behind. He who lives to eat, 
to drink, a slave to fashion, with thought and feel- 
ing expunged, is a mere automaton. 

" Not enjoyment and not sorrow 
Is our destined end and way ; 
But to act, that each to-morrow 
Finds us farther than to-day." 

We are lodged upon this terrestrial ball by the 
One who gave us being, and who causes all things 
to move by his mysterious law ; where there is a 
uniformity as regards the productions of nature, 
and where man is endowed with a sufficiency of 
intellect to enable him to become ruler over the 
inferior order of creation, and, as a natural con- 
sequence, the "architect of his own fortune." 
Since it is thus, it behooves him to plod his course 
through life ever upward to the accomplishment of 
objects that will tend to elevate him, politically, 



614 Scholastic Literature. 

morally, and intellectually. His aim should be 
high, and he should soar aloft upon the pinions of 
intellectual glory ; and as he stems his flight, should 
strike with a gift of genius every favoring breeze, 
and strive to rise higher and higher, until he shall 
have reached that point of eminence where he 
shall stand unawed before the powerful, a tower- 
ing monument to his country, a distinction to his 
race. 

In order to accomplish this great end, there are 
certain laws of nature with which he must comply, 
which being immutable, when he commits himself 
in the road to distinction and eminence, wave an 
imperial scepter that forces his obedience, and 
from which, however rigid in their demands, he 
should never shrink, but strive onward, remember- 
ing that this he would now form is the foundation 
upon which he would build his future edifice, and 
that those who have distinguished themselves have 
had to encounter the self-same difficulties. He 
should not repine at the very threshold, but aim 
high and ever onward, with his motto, "What man 
has done man can do," and give himself over to a 
laudable ambition, that will guide his way through 
the many trials and changes to which human life 
is incident. The surest foundation, and indeed the 
one most durable, is that which is gained from the 
solution and demonstration of the many abstruse 
doctrines of science, which strengthen the reason- 



Aim High. 615 

ing powers, and prepare him for the different pur- 
suits of life; an accomplishment which, when ac- 
quired, is not subject to he swept away by the 
stormy blast of adversity, but when the darkest 
clouds of despair obscure his way, and pretended 
friends may have forsaken him, it yet stands un- 
shaken, bearing and defending the founder in tri- 
umph, wafting him over every billowy wave of 
life's stormy sea, and finally placing him in a 
position, as regards his country and his race, of 
almost unrivaled importance. Although the road 
he is destined to travel, to gain an understanding 
of the fine arts and sciences, and more especially 
to a knowledge of himself and of his fellow-man, 
is interspersed with numerous difficulties and ob- 
scene features that tend greatly to his discourage- 
ment; yet if he persevere, actuated by the inner 
principles that constitute the rational man, his 
march is onward, and as he draws near the ob- 
stacles that appear to obstruct the way, they van- 
ish, and leave his pathway smooth up the rugged 
steep, until he shall have reached its summit, there 
to repose in pleasure, indulging in his own intel- 
lectual glory. These points of distinction have been 
reached by our predecessors, and it is not mere 
conjecture to assert that they may be attained by 
us, since we are endowed with an intellect by no 
means inferior, and have manv advantages which 
they did not possess. 



616 /Scholastic Literature. 

These considerations forbid that one should pass 
his life in ignorance and obscurity. He should 
not be satisfied to loiter around the base of the 
hill of science, to gaze upon her beacon-lights that 
radiate her summit, and suffer his abode to be 
darkened by the confounding shadow that she 
would naturally cast upon it; but should hoist his 
banner, and direct his march to join her shining 
constellation, there to rest from his weary journey, 
gather garlands from her many bowers, " drink 
deep of her crystal fountains;" and thus having 
obtained "knowledge," which "is power," he is 
prepared to join the hosts that are marching on to 
fame. Setting out upon this ennobling journey, 
to gain the applause and approbation of a world, 
he should launch his bark upon the wave of popu- 
lar sentiment, and place knowledge, her noble pilot, 
to guide her off the many rocks and whirlpools 
with which it is interspersed ; spread her sails to 
the political breeze, and ride triumphantly over its 
gigantic waves, until he shall have reached his im- 
agined goal. Should his progress appear to be 
slow, and his pathway invaded with obstacles of 
insurmountable magnitude, he should yet remain 
buoyant, never taking to himself a discouraging 
thought because he is unable to grasp that to 
which he would aspire by a single exertion: he 
should remember that those who have communed 
with the sun, moon, and stars, and beheld the en- 



Aim High. 617 

chanted spheres falling at their feet, were once but 
aspirants, and have gained their distinction by a 
gradual but unyielding pace. When he seriously 
meditates upon the objects and positions of life 
which he fain would possess that yet elude his 
grasp, there are many things that recur to his mind, 
clothed in the raiment of indisputable truth, which 
strengthen his energies, such as the life of man is 
composed of scenes and changes; that in all his 
callings but little is accomplished in a day; that 
time must be added to time and exertion, that in 
the end the accomplishment may be great. Also, 
that the primary parts of every thing of which we 
have any knowledge are small : as the greatest 
fortune is a combination of small values, the 
longest journey may be accomplished step by step; 
that every living thing that moves or has its being 
— the various forms of vegetation that germinate 
upon the landscape, and indeed the earth itself, the 
great field of labor — is formed of minute particles, 
woven together by nature's mysterious law. These 
considerations tend to invite his onward march to 
the object he longs to reach, bidding him hold fast 
to that which he already possesses, and strive to 
increase it by a constant accumulation ; it admon- 
ishes him never to surrender a position which he 
has attained to grasp one inferior. In a word, it 
calls upon him to "take no step backward." 
It is an imperative duty upon man to form in 



618 Scholastic Literature. 

his youthful days some conception of what his 
future life shall be, and strive to prepare himself 
in accordance therewith ; and the very nature of 
things forbids that he should throw himself away, 
join the rabble, or become a prodigal, since he is 
created for more noble and glorious purposes. 
Should he thus act, the object of his creation would 
be defeated. The nature of things goes to show 
that he is created for the purpose of propagating 
the cause of and glorifying his Creator and Pre- 
server ; elevating the condition of his fellow-man, 
assisting him in the accomplishment of virtuous 
practices and upright dealings ; and he should ever 
make these his constant study. 

" Let us, then, be up and doing, 
With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labor and to wait." 



The Lamp of Virtue, Etc. 619 



"THE LAMP OF VIRTUE IS THE TORCH 
OF GLORY." 

BY W, M. T. THOMPSON. 

If there is one subject in the universe which in 
preference to all others deserves our individual at- 
tention and impartial investigation, as relating not 
only to the present, but also to the future and 
eternal welfare of mankind, it is virtuous conduct, 
or one truth which demands universal credence, 
and of which the men of all past ages seem to have 
been utterly ignorant, it is that virtue is the torch 
which lights up the pathway leading to true honor 
and glory. History assures us that from the ear- 
liest period of man's existence, among those na- 
tions of the earth who have attained to any con- 
siderable degree of civilization and enlightenment, 
and especially wherever " the star of Liberty" has 
appeared adorned with magnificent luster, and dis- 
pelling from the minds of her devoted sons the 
vice, superstition, ignorance, and degradation in 
which they have been entrammeled by the shackles 
of despotism, on many illustrious personages have 



620 Scholastic Literature, 

played their part upon the stage of action, distin- 
guished for their resolute zeal in behalf of virtue; 
and although they have evinced, both by words 
and actions, that they were actuated by noble and 
generous motives, yet, instead of being honored 
with the grateful acknowledgments and approba- 
tion of all, and that renown which they justly 
merited being awarded to them by a people for 
whose temporal and spiritual welfare they have 
endured a life of arduous toil and earnest solici- 
tude, they have most generally incurred their in- 
gratitude and envy, drawn upon themselves the 
severest censure, been deprived of the legal rights 
and immunities of citizenship, by banishment from 
their native land, and been afflicted by the most 
cruel tortures, and have even suffered death by the 
hands of their own countrymen, on account of 
some freak of fancy or unwarrantable presumption 
of their persecutors, that their minds were fraught 
with evil designs against them personally, or the 
commonwealth. But however general this rule 
may have been, that they who have manifested a 
zealous regard for justice and virtue, at all times, 
and under all circumstances in life, and have proved 
themselves benefactors of mankind, have been per- 
secuted and disgraced by banishment or imprison- 
ment, by those whose prosperity they labored to 
promote, and from whom they naturally expected 
a more noble reward; and however degenerate 



The Lamp of Virtue, Etc. 621 

and ungrateful our world has always been, yet 
wherever, in any age, moral laws and virtuous 
principles have gained the ascendency in the minds 
of an intelligent and unprejudiced community over 
those of vice and superstition, the greatest honor 
and glory have been ascribed to those who have 
spent their lives in promulgating and acting out 
these ennobling and life-renovating maxims. " Man 
is formed for action;" and for this purpose there 
are interwoven in his constitution powers, princi- 
ples, feelings, and affections, which have a refer- 
ence to his improvement in virtue, and which ex- 
cite him to promote the happiness of others. 
These powers and active principles, like the in- 
tellectual, are susceptible of vast improvement by 
attention, by exercise, by trials and difficulties, 
and by an expansion of the intellectual views. 
Such are filial and fraternal affection, fortitude, 
temperance, justice, gratitude, generosity, love of 
friends and country, philanthropy, and universal 
benevolence. 

When we behold man animated by noble senti- 
ments, exhibiting sublime virtue, and performing 
illustrious actions, displaying generosity and be- 
nevolence in seasons of calamity and tranquillity, 
and fortitude in the midst of difficulties and dan- 
gers; desiring riches only for the sake of distrib- 
uting them among the needy; estimating places 
of power and worldly honor only for the purpose 



622 Scholastic Literature. 

of assisting in the suppression of vice, rewarding 
virtue, and promoting the general interest of their 
country; enduring poverty and distress with a 
noble heroism, in order to benefit others; suffer- 
ing injuries and affronts with patience and seren- 
ity; stifling resentment, when they have it in 
their power to inflict vengeance; showing kind- 
ness and generosity toward enemies and slander- 
ers; restraining irritable passions and licentious 
desires in the midst of the strongest temptations; 
submitting to pain and disgrace, in order to in- 
crease the happiness of friends and relatives, and 
to stimulate them to a just appreciation of vir- 
tuous principles; "and sacrificing repose, honor, 
w T ealth, and even life itself, for the good of their 
country, or for advancing the best interest of the 
human race;" when we behold men, I repeat, ex- 
hibiting manly virtues, and maintaining philan- 
thropic sentiments like these, we perceive features 
of the human mind which mark its dignity and 
grandeur, and which indicate that its possessor 
has attained the highest degree of usefulness, and 
is worthy of the most distinguished honors. 

Many striking examples might be cited of men 
who have, in ancient and modern times, exhibited 
such dignified and inestimable virtues in their 
daily deportment, which would demonstrate the 
vigor, expansion, and sublimity of a mind free 
from the contamination of vice, and devoted to 



The Lamp of Virtue, Etc. 623 

the practice of moral excellences. Even in the 
annals of the pagan world, we read of a Regulus 
exposing himself to the most cruel torments, and 
to death itself, rather than suffer his veracity to 
be impeached, or his fidelity to his country to he 
called in question; of a Phocion who exposed 
himself to the fury of an enraged assembly by 
publicly reproaching the vices and endeavoring to 
promote the -best interests of his countrymen, 
and gave it as his last command to his son, when 
he was going to execution, " that he should forget 
how ill the Athenians had treated his father;" 
and of Damon and Pythias, who were knit to- 
gether in the bonds of a friendship which all the 
terrors of an ignominious death could not dis- 
solve. But of all the characters of the heathen 
world illustrious for virtue, Aristides appears to 
stand in the foremost rank. "An extraordinary 
greatness of soul," says Rollin, "made him su- 
perior to every passion. Interest, pleasure, am- 
bition, resentment, jealousy, were alike extin- 
guished in him by the love of virtue and his 
country. The merit of others, instead of offend- 
ing him, became his own by the approbation he 
gave it. He rendered the government of the 
Athenians amiable to the allies by his mildness, 
goodness, justice, and humanity. The disinter- 
estedness he showed in the management of the 
public treasury, and the love of poverty, which 



624 Scholastic Literature. 

he carried almost to an excess, are virtues so far 
superior to the general practice of our boasted 
age of moral, political, and intellectual attain- 
ments, that they scarcely seem credible to us. 
His conduct and principles were always uniform, 
steadfast in the pursuit of whatever he thought 
just, and incapable of the least falsehood, or 
shadow of flattery, disguise, or fraud, even in 
jest. He had such a control over his passions 
that he uniformly sacrificed his private interests 
and his private resentments to the good of the 
public ; " for which reason, though there were some 
who envied his honorable position, and by artifice 
procured his banishment for a while from Athens, 
yet the sentiments and sympathies of the people 
generally were manifestly in his behalf; and in 
fine his equity and integrity gained for him the 
glorious appellation of the just. He was con- 
sidered worthy of imitation, and unfading honors 
and lasting renown will ever be his due. 

Such virtues reflect a dignity and grandeur on 
every mind in which they reside, the attainment 
of which clearly indicates that man is not the 
creature of circumstances, but that he must be the 
architect of his own fortune, and is capable of 
rising superior to mere circumstances. Hence he 
is instructed to seek and recognize, in every 
condition in life, that happiness which is to be 
found alone in the practice of virtue, in which 



The Lamp of Virtue, Etc. 625 

consist the true moral obligations of man. The 
noblest examples, however, of exalted virtue 
are to be found among those who have en- 
listed themselves in the cause of Christianity, in 
every period of which era similar characters have 
arisen to demonstrate the power of virtue and to 
bless mankind. Our own age and country have 
produced numerous philanthropic individuals who 
have shone as lights in the moral world, and have 
acted as benefactors to the human race. Who 
that is in the least acquainted with the annals of 
benevolence has a soul so destitute of the ordinary 
sensibilities of man's nature as not to be aroused 
by the pleasing emotions of gratitude and admira- 
tion on hearing the names of illustrious personages 
mentioned, such, for instance, as Alfred, Penn, 
Bernard, Sharpe, and a host of others, "whose 
exertions in the cause of liberty, in promoting the 
education of the young, in alleviating the distresses 
of the poor, in ameliorating the condition of the 
prisoner, and in promulgating the innumerable laws 
of moral rectitude," will be felt as blessings con- 
ferred on mankind, and will doubtless be held in 
lasting remembrance by a virtuous and grateful 
posterity ? 

But among all the philanthropic characters of 
the past or present age, the labors of the late 
William Howard stand preeminent. This dis- 
tinguished individual, from a principle of pure be- 
27 



626 Scholastic Literature. 

nevolence, devoted the greater part of his life to 
active beneficence and to the alleviation of human 
wretchedness, in every country where he traveled, 
diving into the depth of dungeons and exposing 
himself to the infected atmosphere of hospitals 
and jails, in order to improve the condition of the 
unfortunate, and to allay the suffering of the 
mournful prisoner. In prosecuting this labor of 
love, he traveled three times through France, four 
times through Germany, four times through Hol- 
land, twice through Italy, and, moreover, through 
all the other kingdoms and empires of Europe; 
surveying the haunts of misery, and distributing 
benefits to mankind wherever he appeared. Such 
characters afford powerful demonstrations of the 
sublimity of virtue, of the activity of the human 
mind, and of its capacity for contributing to the 
happiness of fellow-intelligences to an almost un- 
limited extent. The minds of some of these 
worthy individuals were inspired with such a noble 
ardor in the cause of universal benevolence that 
nothing but insurmountable physical obstructions 
prevented them from making the tour of the world, 
and imparting favors to men of all nations, kin- . 
dreds, and tongues, for which reason every age 
and every generation of men, rising superior to 
the perverseness of envy, have bestowed upon 
them that palm of merit which they still retain 
unwithered, and seem likely to retain, "While 



The Lamp of Virtue, Etc. 627 

streams shall flow, or lofty trees shall bloom;" 
and their names, invested with the imperishable 
mantle of honor, will descend to the latest genera- 
tions, untarnished by the vile tongue of the slan- 
derer or the reproaches of the vicious misanthro- 
pist. The lap of liberty is the cradle of virtue. 
We have already intimated that wherever a people 
have drunk into the stream and tasted of the 
sweets that flow from the perennial fount of liberty, 
and the humane goddess — -justice — arrayed in the 
gorgeous robes of innocence and simplicity, sways 
unlimited dominion, while dispensing to her zeal- 
ous devotees the freedom of thought, of speech, 
and of the press, and extending to all who will 
partake of her bounty a liberal and impartial hand, 
laden with the rich treasures which she has in 
store for the noble sons of liberty ; there virtue, 
insinuating itself as it were into the minds and 
affections of a true-loving community, and fortify- 
ing them against the insidious attacks and de- 
basing influences of vice, enlists its most efficient 
advocates, and contributes its greatest benefits to 
men. And there also we find the greatest number 
of individuals whose names will ever be held 
sacred, and whose illustrious deeds will be regis- 
tered in the national archives or engraven upon 
the tablets of memory, and reserved for the imita- 
tion and esteem of subsequent generations. The 
correctness of this assertion will be readily ad- 



628 Scholastic Literature. 

mitted by every one who will carefully compare 
the past histories of other countries with those of 
the ancient republics of Greece and Rome, in 
which the character and achievements of many 
virtuous individuals are portrayed in the most 
glowing colors. But where, either in ancient or 
modern times, has there a nation existed who 
could boast of a greater proportion of great and 
good men than are to be found in the short history 
of our own glorious republic ? We have not in 
our allusions to illustrate characters referred to 
those who are noted for their proficiency in mili- 
tary prowess, or other heroic virtues, such, for in- 
stance, as characterized the actions of Alexander 
the Great, Csesar, or Napoleon Bonaparte, whose 
chief delight it was to hasten their fellow-beings 
to an untimely grave, to devastate whole empires, 
and to overflow the world with oceans of human 
blood; but rather to such as preferred the more 
humane and noble virtues inculcated into their 
minds by the principles of morality and justice, 
by means of which alone they believed that enmity 
and vice could be banished from the earth and the 
whole world be bound together in one vast com- 
munity of friends and brethren. Then, if we 
would become great and useful, and exert a good 
influence in the world, and would have our names 
"with gems and golden luster rich emblazoned" 
upon our nation's heart, or enrolled upon the pages 



The Lamp of Virtue, Etc. 629 

of history, in order that nations yet unborn might 
rise up and call us blessed, let the motto, " The 
Lamp of Virtue is the Torch of Glory," be indeli- 
bly impressed upon our minds, let it characterize 
our every action ; and then at the hour of disso- 
lution, when the soul is ready to take its flight 
from this earth-born tenement to God who gave 
it, and the body is shortly to be consigned to the 
cold and silent tomb, we can look back with pleas- 
ure upon a life well spent, and, in the language of 
another, we will be enabled confidently to exclaim : 

" Exegi monumentum aere perennius, 
Regalique situ pyramidum altius ; 
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens, 
Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis, 
Annorum series et fuga temporum." 

("I have erected a monument more lasting 
than brass, and loftier than the regal site of the 
pyramids ; which neither the bold shower nor the 
impotent north wind shall be able to overthrow, 
nor the innumerable series of years and the flight 
of times.") 



630 Scholastic Literature. 



ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS, 

BY C. L. RANDOLPH, 

Of Shelbyville, Term., delivered before the Lewisburg Institute, July 1, 1870. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — By the invitation of 
the worthy Principal of this Institution, I am 
here to-day to talk to you on subjects of educa- 
tional character. And in making my appearance 
before you to-day, I desire to discuss only such 
questions as are of a practical nature. I have 
lived too long, and had too much contact with the 
living, stern realities of life, to consume your time 
this evening in fancy sketches or rhetorical flour- 
ishes. A few practical thoughts is all that will 
be attempted. 

I am glad to meet so many friends of educa- 
tion once more, on an occasion like this. Al- 
though not now engaged in teaching, I have not 
yet forgotten the promptings of my first love. 
Occasions like this are resting-places, oases, to 
teachers, students, and the friends of education. 
Seventeen years ago, in another portion of your 
county, Prof. Darnall and myself became associ- 



Anniversary Address. 631 

ated together— he the student, and I the teacher. 
Since that time our relations have been the most 
intimate. I have watched with no little interest 
his career, as he has ascended, step by step, the 
graded walks of a teacher's life, from his school- 
boy days to the position he now holds, the hon- 
ored head of your flourishing Institution. 

If there are any fruits of my labor, through a 
life of toil and struggle, that give me pleasure, 
and make me feel that I have not lived in vain, 
it is to know that those whom I have taught, and 
for whom I have labored, are now instruments of 
usefulness, and are filling with honor places of the 
highest trust and responsibility. It is to the 
teacher his ornament, his solace, his highest re- 
ward. Well then may you perceive how fertile 
of reminiscences of the past are occasions like 
these. It calls up the scenes of our first meeting, 
and the controlling incidents that strengthened 
our hopes and pleasures, and directed the ener- 
gies of youth. And time, although ever busy in 
effacing the memories of the past, and making 
dim the impressions of the good "long time ago," 
offers no bar to-day, in feeling or fancy, to our 
renewing those pleasant scenes, or kindling those 
emotions that then filled the mind and glowed in 
the heart. 

Memory sweeps across the vale of eighteen 
years, and displays the incidents of the interven- 



632 Scholastic Literature. 

ing scenery. It lights with joy friendships long 
since enjoyed, for a time broken, but ripened and 
mellowed like the oldest wines of the cellar. It 
rejoices in the fact that many brilliant examples 
of head and heart have been sent forth to bless 
the world. It lingers with melancholy interest 
on the memory of our good and true, who now 
sleep, some in distant graves, unmarked and un- 
known, others in the quietude of the old family 
grave-yard. It reminds us of many days similar 
to this, when, after a year of earnest toil, teachers 
and students, bound together by ties stronger than 
mere friendship, with swelling hearts and watery 
eyes, speak the unwelcome word, a Good-by!" 

We are here to-day, not alone to speak of the 
past, or congratulate you on your good fortune in 
having in your midst an institution that so amply 
meets the demands of this community, and of a 
teacher so well qualified to direct your children 
in the way of usefulness and honor. There are 
many great practical questions that are full of in- 
terest to you, as parents and teachers, that should 
be well and thoroughly considered. How can I 
best educate my child ? is an important question. 
It involves no less than the destiny of the child. 
How often do we read of daring criminals, whose 
whole life has been steeped in crime the blackest 
in the long catalogue, in full view of death and 
eternity, confessing that their first impulse to a life 



Anniversary Address. 633 

of shame came from the nursery and the school? 
On the other hand, the annals of the good and 
great of earth — those who have shone like stars 
in the moral heavens, filling the world with joy, 
gladness, and hope — teach that the seeds of use- 
fulness and goodness were sown into their minds 
in infancy, in the family circle, and from the lips 
of pious instructors. Hence the old and trite 
adage : 

"'Tis education forms the common mind; 
As the twig is bent, so the tree 's inclined." 

I cannot forbear, in this connection, making a 
quotation from the writings of Dr. Loudon. He 
says: "Of about thirty boys, educated in con- 
tempt of useful knowledge and occupation, who 
spent their days in reading novels, the lives and 
confessions of pirates, murderers, etc., and their 
nights in the streets, dram-shops, gambling-saloons, 
circus, and theater — of these boys, one had been 
hung for murder, one for robbing the mail, and 
three as pirates; fiye died in the penitentiary, 
and seven lived and died useless vagabonds about 
the streets; three were useful mechanics \ the fate 
of the remainder is unknown. Of about forty 
boys educated with me, by a really scientific 
teacher, under the c old fogy ' system of restraint, 
at the age of fifty-five one was a member of Con- 
gress, one Judge of the Supreme Court, two 
27* 



634 Scholastic Literature. 

Judges of the Circuit Court, three physicians, 
five lawyers, fourteen were dead, and the remain- 
der were farmers and mechanics, and, so far as is 
known, not one of them was ever called before 
the bar of his country on a criminal charge. They 
all had comfortable homes, except two or three, 
and every one of them was passably respectable." 
Such is the language of this distinguished man, 
and such is the experience, more or less, of thou- 
sands. 

And this brings us again to the important ques- 
tion, How shall I educate my child? It is first 
important, however, to define another term. What 
is education ? I know of no term so much abused 
and misunderstood as this. Not only is it not 
understood with the masses, but educators them- 
selves frequently have notions at war with phi- 
losophy and experience. 

With many, education is a stuffing process. 
From the time a child can walk, till it is dubbed 
an A. B., it is stuffed and crammed with all the 
"ologies" known from the clays of Zoroaster to 
the present; all the "ics," "ides," and "ates" are 
jammed into its voracious cranium; so that when 
he graduates he returns home, like the frog in the 
fable, imagining himself one of the wise and great 
of earth. A little contact with life soon dissi- 
pates these visionary notions, destroys his hopes, 
and he sinks to obscurity and inactivity. With 



Anniversary Address. 635 

another class, education is entirely a drawing-out 
process; they look with disdain on the stuffing 
process, and refuse to load the mind with foreign 
matter. Their whole aim is to evoke the slum- 
bering powers of the child; to set to work the 
nicely adjusted mental machinery; to tune this 
"harp of a thousand strings" in unison with the 
laws of God and man. Both are right, and both 
are wrong. They hold the extremes of the true 
system. One overestimates the powers of Na- 
ture; the other, the softening and refining influ- 
ences of knowledge. 

I cannot better illustrate my idea of what edu- 
cation is, than by an example. Take, for instance, 
a grain of corn. In this grain are all the ele- 
ments of the future stalk and future crop. Under 
circumstances, the life and the beneficial proper- 
ties of this grain would lie dormant forever. In 
the pyramids of Egypt, and the ruins of ancient 
cities, grains of corn have lain for centuries with- 
out the least change of form or development. 
But suppose this grain planted in good soil. Soon, 
by the application of heat, light, moisture, and 
electricity, the germ is quickened into life, into a 
growing, expanding state. The infant stalk ab- 
sorbs from the earth, the air, and the rain, the 
elements of its nourishment. All these principles 
are assimilated, and while they are principles ab 
extra, they cause a development and expansion 



636 Scholastic Literature. 

db intra. Then comes the care and labor of the 
husbandman — keeping the soil in proper condition, 
and all poisonous weeds destroyed. Hence the 
life-germ, touched and tendered by surrounding 
forces, assimilating them to its own constitution, 
added to the toil of the honest farmer, the new- 
grown stalk, with its ear and blade, is completed. 
The corn is now educated. 

Now this process is very analogous to the edu- 
cation of the infant. Within the infant is a most 
wondrous complex organization — a material body, 
an animal soul, and a godlike spirit. These are 
again endowed with numerous faculties, each of 
which is susceptible of wondrous development. 
Let the infant, like the grain, be surrounded by 
the proper circumstances ; let it draw its nourish- 
ment from the earth, the air, and the heavens ; let 
the native force and power of the heart assimilate 
all these to its own nature, and let it have the 
care of the wise instructor, and you have, as well 
as I can express it, my idea of education. It 
combines the two systems : it feeds while it ex- 
pands ; it stimulates to activity by facts, elements, 
and precepts, and directs the aspirations of youth 
in the path of honor and true glory. The mind, 
like the body, must have its food and its exercise; 
one to support, the other to give tone, activity, 
and power. 

A system of education, whatever else it may 



Anniversary Address. 637 

combine, must consist of these elements : while it 
fills the mind with useful knowledge, it must ex- 
pand and draw forth all the latent energies and 
powers of the mental system. 

But before the main question can be answered 
satisfactorily, other necessary prerequisites must 
be noticed. Before the parent or teacher can be 
successful in training properly the child, his own 
actions and movements must be urged on and 
directed by the native enthusiasm of his own 
heart. To illustrate : In organic bodies there is 
a mysterious principle of life, which, working out- 
ward from the center, builds up its own organiza- 
tion according to a model inherent in itself — in 
other words, the plant is but the development of 
the life-principle within. So it is with the in- 
structor. There must be in his own heart a life- 
force — an inward, acting, unfolding principle. 

There is another important prerequisite in order 
to successful teaching. In the mind, and in the 
heart of the educator, there must of necessity 
exist the lean ideal of the character to be formed 
from the material of the child. Many parents and 
teachers struggle with the young for years, en- 
deavoring to educate them, having no clear con- 
ception of the model into which they are to cast 
the mind and heart of the pupil. Aims they have, 
indeed, various as the stars of heaven, and, like 
them, not always visible. But the true educator 



638 Scholastic Literature. 

should ever hold before his mind, distinctly marked, 
the true type to which, as a standard, he should 
elevate, as far as possible, the mind and heart of 
his pupil. Ere the rough rock was hewn from the 
mountain, or chisel touched the shapely marble, 
the beautiful and divine ideal of Apollo existed in 
the mind of Phidas. The Venus de Medici — the 
peerless work of art and beauty, the admiration 
of the world — is but a presentation in tangible 
form of the ideal fancy of Creomones of Greece. 
'Tis this genius that has given to Parrhasius, 
Apelles, Angelo, and Raphael, a renown wide as 
the world, and deep as the love of the true, the 
beautiful, and the good. But not only must the 
educator, whether parent or teacher, have clear 
conceptions in their own minds of w T hat pupils 
must be, and the steps by which it is to be at- 
tained : they must feel the importance of their 
w T ork. 

When the friends of the great Zeuxis inquired 
of him why he bestowed so much care and labor 
on his productions, he replied : " I paint for eter- 
nity." So are } 7 ou, my friends, painters for eter- 
nity. The eternity for which Zeuxis painted is 
long since passed away, buried in the wreck of 
ages gone by. Not so the work of the educator. 
He, in deed and in truth, paints for eternity. The 
material on which he works is not the flimsy can- 
vas of art, nor the marble of the mountains. His 



Anniversary Address, 639 

ideals are not drawn from the deified forms of 
heathen lands, nor the dull impulses of a blind 
fatality. He works on materials of a higher 
order — a godlike principle, destined to outlive the 
stars, and flourish in immortal youth when the 
worlds are no more. Guided by these great prin- 
ciples, with a heart deeply impressed with the 
permanency and the grandeur of the work before 
him, the proper training of youth becomes simpli- 
fied and unified. Every part and parcel of the 
entire system becomes harmonized, and arrange 
themselves around the ideal center as filings around 
the magnet. As Raphael then would transfer to 
the canvas the divine conceptions of his own im- 
mortal genius, as Creomones and Angelo would 
stamp their own immortality into the lifeless mar- 
ble, so must the teacher transfuse his feelings, 
emotions, his earnest hopes, and high aspirations 
after the great and good, into the minds and hearts 
of his pupils. His pupils must be to him his 
Apollo, his Venus de Medici, his paintings for 
time and for all eternity. Impressed with the 
foregoing principles, prepared in mind and heart 
with a pure ideal, and with the importance of the 
work, the proper education of the child follows as 
a natural sequence. 

Primarily, the work is mostly mechanical. To 
impress a few fundamental principles on the mind, 
and train the child early to correct habits, submis- 



640 Scholastic Literature. 

sion, and a desire for knowledge, is, perhaps, the 
most that can be done in infantile years. But as 
the child grows older, and his body and mind be- 
comes stronger, the process must be varied essen- 
tially. The mere memory of principles, however 
important, and the impartation of knowledge, how- 
ever pure and nourishing, must now give way to 
a more severe process of discipline. The native 
powers must now be invigorated, strengthened, and 
expanded. This is the period of mental gymnas- 
tics. The mental constitution, now in the forma- 
tive state, pliable and plastic, is to be molded into 
forms of beauty, power, and strength. Such 
studies as are best calculated to fix the attention, 
tax and develop the reflective and reasoning 
powers, and give life and activity to the whole 
mental machinery, must be used. 

It is not here intended to dispense entirely with 
those mere ornamental branches that give beauty 
and polish to the mind, but that the main work of 
the period should be to strengthen and develop. 
Hence the error in almost all the female schools 
of our State. This severe gymnastics of the mind 
is neglected. That searching, fundamental course, 
so essential to develop and burnish true intellect, 
is ignored, and the grand tinselry of a vain display 
of a few "ologies," and scrap-work, is the educa- 
tional food frequently allotted to our daughters. 
When will our people learn to give to their daugh- 



Anniversary Address, 641 

ters the same training given to their sods ? When 
will they learn that the mind of a girl is as im- 
portant as a boy's, and that the education of our 
females is as important an element in our pros- 
perity and happiness as that of the males? 

Fundamental, and underlying all other, is to 
teach the young to think — so train and mold their 
powers that to think, and think for themselves, 
will be the fruits of their own mental action. All 
true education begins and ends in thought; all 
true greatness and permanent good is the result 
of thought. If there is one word in the English 
language that expresses the length and the breadth, 
the height and the depth of education, it is thought. 
Whoever can think, in the true sense, is educated. 
He who cannot think, who cannot control and 
concentrate the powers of his mind — it matter not 
how many sciences he may have gone over, or 
how many folios he may profess to have completed 
— is not an educated man. 

Remember, then, parents, while you are inter- 
esting yourselves in exercising the memory of 
your children, and manifesting a deep anxiety in 
having them advance rapidly in arithmetic, gram- 
mar, as well as the other branches in the curricu- 
lum, that the power to think, and the practice of 
thinking, must keep pace with the character and 
quantity of the intellectual food supplied to the 
mind. 



642 Scholastic Literature. 

It has been said by a writer that " there is more 
power in a single thought than in a drawn sword." 
Again, it is said that " thoughts are the sons of 
heaven, and that words are the daughters of earth." 
Unite these in the bonds of a holy alliance, and 
you have the secret of success — the full force and 
power of true education. When we look upon the 
face of society in all its departments, and examine 
the character of the men and women that have 
revolutionized and blessed the w T orld, we find 
them invariably great thinkers. It was thought, 
under God, that raised Luther from the seclusion 
of a friar monk to the reformer of his age — that 
infused life, activity, and power into the rotten 
systems of the Catholic world. It was thought 
that spread light in the regions of darkness, that 
gave hope to the despondent, spiritual life to the 
morally dead, and to the w r orld, the volume of 
God's inspiration. It was sanctified thought that 
blessed the world, through the genius and labors 
of Zwingle, John Calvin, James Macknight, A. 
Clarke, and John Wesley. It was thought, in her 
higher manifestations, that awakened the action 
and guided the great powers of Alex. Campbell, 
that evoked from apathy the brightest intellects 
of the western world. Thought has given us rail- 
roads, steam-boats, printing-presses ; built our 
towers, and filled with wisdom the temples of 
justice. 



Anniversary Address. 643 

And what is it that thought has not accom- 
plished? Around you, above you, and beneath 
you, everywhere, are the evidences of its power 
and grandeur. By its magic touch, mountains 
have been leveled, valleys bridged, the ocean 
bound with chords of iron, and the "wilderness 
made to blossom as the rose." Accepting these 
statements as facts, how important it is that the 
young be trained to think, that every lesson, every 
duty required, should have especial reference to 
cultivating this faculty ! 

"As each life is so emphatically molded in the 
form of thought, every germ of the youthful mind 
should be pruned and trained with care. Thus a 
weighty responsibility devolves upon the instruc- 
tors. Many means may be employed in cultivat- 
ing thought, and none should be neglected. They 
may at first seem but the least awakenings — 
mere thoughtlets, mosses, and unconspicuous blos- 
soms ; yet each has its value. The pin, or the 
pivot, is just as important, in its place, as the 
great beam whose oscillations move mighty ma- 
chinery; and when these buds shall be enveloped 
by the golden light of science, they may swell, 
expand, blossom, and yield abundant fruit. In 
the schools of the present day, where the ten- 
dency of efforts is to smooth the path of the 
student, care should be taken that the voluminous 
explanations do not supersede reasoning in the 



644 Scholastic Literature. 

mind; for the education is advanced more by the 
provocation of a single thought, than by hours of 
elucidation without the corresponding reasoning. 
To a want of this requisite may be attributed the 
superficial education so frequently remarked, and 
so much to be abhorred and dreaded. A glorious 
inheritance have they who have this intellectual 
wealth, and truly the pathway of life must be 
desert and gloomy to those who find it not fringed 
and carpeted with ideas, and bedecked with the 
brilliant flowers of thought. The mind thus en- 
dowed is a world of wealth in itself; may gaze 
down through the vista of coming years, and be- 
hold fond anticipations beaming across the ocean 
of futurity, and luring him on to brighter fields 
of glory and fruition." 



THE END. 



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